Guest post by Maxime Eeraerts
To live on our planet for generations to come, we need to stop
destroying it. Yet, those of us at the heart of nature conservation, those who value
ecosystems, and those who connect with and understand the biological world,
make the general public raise their eyebrows more often than not when it comes
to discussing these issues. Labelled as “tree-huggers”, our message is
anticipated by many to be negative, such as the rhetoric around consuming less and
taking actions to reduce our impact on the environment.
This current conservation rhetoric might have the opposite effect on
people's decisions and actions then what it aims to do. Therefore, it is worth
exploring whether positive messages of hope would result in more success
stories. As scientists and nature conservationists, focussing on and promoting
the principles and benefits of proven success stories could be a key way to
better our community engagement, to inspire action and change. All around us we
find genuine success stories of conservation, nature reclamation, and climate mitigation.
I believe that these examples should be our teachers. One such example, is the
Bumblebee Conservation Trust established by Dr Dave Goulson whose work emphasizes
the need for more bee-friendly habitat. The trust enhances community awareness
about bumblebees and their decline through education programs geared toward
both children and adults, and by popularising the science and involvement of
farmers, and gardeners and politicians. Since the establishment of the trust in
2006 it has grown by over 10,000 members, and restored over 2,000 hectares of
flower rich habitat in the United Kingdom.
Surely, as it stands our natural capital is almost bankrupt, we need to
change our ways and do it fast. As described in the above-mentioned example,
solutions and movements of change can be very variable, science-based or from a
business point of view, from bottom-up to top-down. It shows that conservation
can work. Besides the fact that a lot of nature and biodiversity is already
lost, there still is a great deal that remains and which is worth fighting for!
Maxime Eeraerts began his PhD in January 2016 at Ghent University. The
PhD project aims to quantify the natural pollination service to sweet cherry, and to determine if this pollination service is
feasible in landscapes with varied intensities of agriculture. You can find more about his research here.
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