Can Indigenous Peoples be part of true conservation?
Can Indigenous Peoples be part of the solution to wildlife conservation challenges in the 21st Century? Every August we celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples which aims to highlight the diversity and unique nature of 5000 or more cultures around the world. The UN estimates that there are over 370 million indigenous […]
What has Biodiversity ever done for us?
The most watched television show in the UK in 2017 was the final episode of “Blue Planet II” narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The documentary highlighted the effects that plastic pollution is having on marine ecosystems, suggesting that micro-plastics in the food chain may cause whale calves to be stillborn. The response in the UK […]
Are all Forests Created Equal?
Every March we celebrate the International Day of Forests, another of the many international “days” that seem to appear on our social media feeds almost every day of the year. But do these days stimulate increased interest in or action on their subjects? For me the purpose of these days is to simply highlight a […]
Evidence of the Importance of Protecting Hadza lands
Why diverse ecosystems are the key to our digestive system – yet more evidence of the importance of protecting the Hadza lands in the Yaeda valley. Last weekend, it was a pleasure to spend an evening dining with Jeff Leach, talking about microbes, digestion and as he so aptly puts it ‘pooh’. The perfect […]
Stop the Trade and Protect Biodiversity
The theme for World Environment Day 2016 is “stop the illegal trade in wildlife”, not just animals but plant life too, as every stolen item erodes our biodiversity. The term “illegal wildlife trade” conjures up images of ivory taken from an elephant and sold on the black market, shipments of pangolins or orangutans and the […]