The other night I was inspired and motivated in equal measure as I attended the launch of the Natural History Museum's new exhibition, "Extinction - Not the end of the world".
It was an amazing scene in the Central Hall with the dinosaur skeleton lit red and the lights in the vast cathedral-like hall dimmed.
Guest speaker Owen Paterson, the Defra minister told us all how wonderful our countryside is and what a stirling job farmers are doing to conserve it and the wildlife it supports. It came as a surprise just 24 hours later to hear that Prime Minister David Cameron has secured what can only be described as a regressive deal with Europe. He's effectively pulled the financial rug from under the wellies of the army of farmers who give a damn about wildlife and are rewarded for setting aside land for wildlife instead of cultivating it to grow more cash crops.
Thanks to the launch of this amazing exhibition, I am able to take this set-back in my stride. Because the real guest speaker was Sir David Attenborough. This quiet, gentle man spoke from the heart of his dismay at the global extinction of species. He was privileged, if that's the right word, to see eye-to-eye with some of the last remaining members of some of those now extinct species. To him, their loss is a real tragedy and our world is poorer for their passing.
The deal done in Brussels will not help lift Sir David's spirits. David Cameron's deal cuts the amount of money available for conservation by just over 11 billion Euros. Worse still it allows all member states to raid what little is left in conservation coffers and siphon it off into un-targeted subsidies.
Before the revised negotiation, the UK received about £500m for wildlife-friendly farming payments, but a previous study showed that, at best, this was only half of the sum needed to fund environmental priorities. The need for concerted action to restore farmland wildlife in the UK remains as great as ever. Some typical farmland species, like the skylark, have shown massive declines. Since 1978, the UK has lost over 350 skylarks a day; that’s one every four minutes.
In the UK, the RSPB hopes that Owen Paterson and his colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will show leadership and use their powers wisely to ensure that as much funding as possible will go towards those farmers and land managers who provide the greatest benefits for wildlife and the countryside. Other EU leaders will certainly need an example to follow.
We are now, in the UK, definately in this together as far as securing the future of our native wildlife is concerned. As Sir David Attenborough said during his speech, destroying our environment is destroying ourselves - I paraphrase but the meaning's the same. Scuppering what is effectively the life-work of many farmers undermines the chances of success for a sustainable recovery. We need a healthy land to produce the building blocks of society and industry. Our countryside can't be turned in to a factory.
I call on Owen Paterson to stand by the beliefs I heard him utter the other night. Find a way, along with his counterparts in devolved administrations, to financially support UK farmers. The UK can lead Europe in a new way forward. More than 30,000 people backed the RSPB's campaign to support the custodians of our countryside. David Cameron was wrong to ignore that many voters, but Owen Paterson now needs that popular support to fight for farmers and fight for a countryside we all want .. and all pay for through our taxes.