AFON
Half-Britain – by Pete Cooper
Welcome to our series of blog posts in the run up to the general election (7th May 2015). Over this month AFON members will share their own Visions for Nature: what they want the natural world to look like by 2050 and how they want to get there. We have created a hashtag on Twitter so why not join the conversation? What’s your #VisionforNature?
Last year, one of the greatest minds to have graced the field of natural history since the likes of White, Darwin and Wallace made a bold statement regarding the future of our planet, that I suspect caused his followers to either punch the air or twiddle their thumbs with uncertainty. Professor Edward O. Wilson, a leading on voice on evolutionary history, island biogeography and developing conservation around ‘biophilia’, suggested – no, stated – that to ensure we still had a reasonable amount of biodiversity left on this planet for the next century and beyond, we would need to give over half the Earth’s land mass as areas where nature conservation is prioritised. This is Half-Earth.
So could we have Half-Britain too? If we are prepared to think bigger and so much differently than before, I think we can. Coppicing nature reserves and clearing development away from bat roosts isn’t enough. While my vision for nature sees both agricultural and urban spaces being rewilded in as much capacity as can be achieved within these settings while allowing these ‘manscapes’ to maintain their living and industrial function, Wilson’s proposition is perhaps the surest way of giving nature a truly safe haven from our burgeoning population.
To fulfil this, we only have to look at the areas where even in this crowded Isle, little effective land use is made of them – the uplands. And conveniently, the Scottish highlands, Northern English moors and Welsh hills make up just over half of our land mass. Some parts remain as sanctuaries for wildlife, such as what is left of the once vast Caledonian Forest. But unfortunately much of these parts are barren and desertified ecologically, and it’s in shifting from this to a rich ecosystem that our hurdle lies.
I could go on about the unsustainability and economic senselessness of hill farming, or grouse moors, or stalking estates, and these have been covered well in the media. I don’t see reason to end these activities full stop despite what others believe, as I feel this is counter-productive and puts forward an eco-facist face rather than that of conservationists trying to work for a better future from all involved parties. What is clear is that these need to be vastly minimised in their land use, and it’s here where we need to apply far more social, economic (land value tax, anyone?) and cultural reasoning if we are to form Half-Britain, even before we start restoring forests and reintroducing missing keystone species.
Half-Britain, especially if going hand in hand with a nationwide rewilding initiative that works around an area’s current land use, would create ecosystems not only benefitting the wildlife that lives in them through stable ecologies with all trophic levels in place and balance, but a life force for us – cleansing carbon from the atmosphere, providing clean water and mitigating floods, enriching the soils – and our souls. With nature firmly in view, we would have a whole new wild word right on our doorstep, perhaps being the most connected to nature physically and culturally since pre-industrialisation times.
My visit to New Zealand two years ago was mind blowing in so many ways, but key among them was how well linked the populace were to nature on a societal level – it was a value everyone was highly proud of, and given prominence as a leading responsibility for the country. Unfortunately, getting there had occurred the hard way. It was only when most of the country’s pristine forest had been destroyed and half its bird life exterminated that New Zealanders worked their hardest to rectify it. My vision for nature is for Britain to value nature in the same respect they do, but rather than learning to do so via its destruction, let’s do it through its restoration. Let’s do it through Half Britain.