Legally Protected Wildlife

[nightshade]

Somebody mentioned that Bees (and a lot more wildlife) have no protection under law.
Don't you think that DEFRA (the Daubenton Bat Killers) is out of time to the current social, economic and climatic conditions that are putting so much pressure on our remaining wildlife.
Books like The End of Nature (Bill mcKibben) and recently Silent Fields,The Long Decline of a Nations Wildlife (Roger Lovegrove) show that the world is run by people who live in tiny worlds of their own totally ignorant of the slowly dying natural world that sustains them
Isn't it time some pressure was applied to these ignorant people to protect everything wildlife before it is too late(if it isn't all ready)

[Wild-Woman]

It would be great to see additional protection for all species,in my opinion. Everything deserves the right to live and be safe, even if it is an insect that lives just for a short time.

I'm sure there's lots of ignorance as regards to the natural world but the biggest hurdles to overcome is greed and money. Like someone, somewhere said, 'Money is the root of all evil' they never realised how right they were I bet.

It's important to educate the young early in these matters. Hopefully they won't grow up ignorant and greedy.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Somebody mentioned that Bees (and a lot more wildlife) have no protection under law.
Don't you think that DEFRA (the Daubenton Bat Killers) is out of time to the current social, economic and climatic conditions that are putting so much pressure on our remaining wildlife.
Books like The End of Nature (Bill mcKibben) and recently Silent Fields,The Long Decline of a Nations Wildlife (Roger Lovegrove) show that the world is run by people who live in tiny worlds of their own totally ignorant of the slowly dying natural world that sustains them
Isn't it time some pressure was applied to these ignorant people to protect everything wildlife before it is too late(if it isn't all ready)

while i agree that defra arent maybe the most effective govt agency known to man , they also arent totally responsible for the legislative circumstance , nor are they the ultimate arbiter of much of the legislation that does exist.

if presure needed to be brought it should be on the govt as a whole , as defra are powerless to change the socio economic conditions that put this pressure on the countryside - this power rests with the chancellor and the home office - though even they can do little about our rising population which is one of the real stressors

in actual fact legislation isnt the issue anyway as laws are in place that applied effectively will protect the countryside and our wildlife - the issue is more with lack of enforcement , and that comes down largely to a lack of money, which in turn is due to the fact that all joe public might like fluffy cute things he/she likes low taxes more.

finally we need to remember that mckibben and lovegrove (and Graham hurley - killing of the countryside) have an agenda too , and there are as many reasons for them to paint an unrealistically bleak picture as there are for the govt to promote an unduly rosy one.

[demicav]

I would like to see more education for children about these issues. My 8 year old daughter has recently had lessons about global warming but I don't feel it goes far enough. They need to be tought about British wildlife ( after all that's where they live ) and habitats. I see to it that my children learn from me but some parents either don't have the knowledge to pass on or couldn't care less if it's passed on or not.
Also people coming into the country need to be tought something about our wildlife as I feel they contribute alot to habitat destruction and many have little respect for wildlife.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Somebody mentioned that Bees (and a lot more wildlife) have no protection under law.
Don't you think that DEFRA (the Daubenton Bat Killers) is out of time to the current social, economic and climatic conditions that are putting so much pressure on our remaining wildlife.
Books like The End of Nature (Bill mcKibben) and recently Silent Fields,The Long Decline of a Nations Wildlife (Roger Lovegrove) show that the world is run by people who live in tiny worlds of their own totally ignorant of the slowly dying natural world that sustains them
Isn't it time some pressure was applied to these ignorant people to protect everything wildlife before it is too late(if it isn't all ready)

I don't know if this will be of much reassurance to you, but there are a number of invertebrate species (including bees) on the National Biodiversity Action Plan for which tagets for improvement are made and hopefully most of the time properly worked towards but also, such species have to be taken into consideration by developers as the CROW Act and more recently the NERC Act have brought into a duty of care for such species.

I regularly commission various forms of invertebrate surveys if I think a site will be good for invertebrates - I'm just sad I don't know enough to be able to help out on them!
If important species be they BAP species of nationally notable species we take them into account both within the development and within any mitigation schemes.


so they may be small and crawly and fairly unpopular within the general public as a whole, but they are never ignored by a good ecological consultant. (something I strive to be)

[Paul mabbott]

Protection for non-vertebrates is done on a landowning basis. The landowner has the final decision what will happen to the plants/animals on their land unless that land is declared an SSSI or some other limitation applied on it. The only invertebrates that are safe are those on land owned by such as National Trust ... for as long as they have a nature conservation plan!

As noted, a few invertebrate species have special protection. Personally, I think that species protection, except in a few special cases, is not the answer.
We need to protect habitats and a whole collection of species (the community) rather than one or two species .... this is a long and complex argument that I don't want to get into. Think about it - save one bumble bee by saving its habitat then you save several other bees and also beetle, flies, moths ......