Triggered by the news that Natural England had issued the first ever licence for the destruction of a buzzard nest at the request of a pheasant shooting estate, a colleague pointed me in the direction of a blog from Matthew Taylor (Chief Executive of the RSA) about how to restore trust in public institutions. In it, Matthew says...
"Modern institutions – especially those which people believe should be expected to act in the public interest – must seek to make decisions as if they are operating in a glass box. (NB: This is not the same as arguing for total transparency. Indeed greater openness is more likely to be the consequence than the cause of more ethical organisational behaviour).
If an organisation which claims to be ethical is making decisions on a basis which the public would not understand or condone then it is ever more likely, sooner or later, that these decisions and the dodgy thinking behind them will be exposed, further eroding trust in institutions."
Makes you think, doesn't it?
Martin
It does but be careful what you wish for! Some of your grass roots workers/wardens operate very closely with those that manage land and biodiversity - culling predators and trade-offs in habitat management - are part of these coal face works.
A mirror sometimes looks both ways and your members should be illuminated on, rather than sheltered from, some the modern 'red in tooth & claw' conservation methods required today.
I fear that our population's consumption and climate change will see some species disappear but we should focus on robust, perhaps at times unpalatable, science based conservation to save others before too late.
Yours aye
Rob twitter.com/blackgull