Monday 10 May 2010

Carrots, sticks and conservation

People who profess to be 'green' are dreadful ones for banning stuff. They see a conservation problem and they instantly want to regulate this and ban that. I suppose they mean well but, look around you, does it work?

There is another way. The World Pheasant Association is a fine example of how to get on and do some real conservation, rather than blowing your members' money on marketing hype. Their Pipar Project in the Himalayas has been running 25 years. It's a simple bribe to local people: stop killing stuff and we'll provide schools for your kids. It works.

I was shooting with the WPA on Friday, at their annual clay shoot and fundraising auction (As it happens I was on form, but that's another story). They're the sort of folks your average greenie would despise: rich, middle aged and older white men, public school educated, Tory-voting, pheasant shooting, landowning... One of the auction items was a zebra skin; another a day's trout fishing. I can just see the steam coming out of the trendy ecomentalists' ears.

And yet... they're doing seriously valuable conservation work around the world, at their own expense and for truly altruistic reasons, and not even bothering to promote it, any more than absolutely necessary to raise the funds they need.

Funny old world innit.

5 comments:

Alan Tilmouth said...

WPA do some great conservation work, I've just written an article hopefully to get published in one of the national Birding magazines about their conservation projects and I interviewed one of their research associates from Brazil 2 weeks ago who has been monitoring re-introduced Red-billed Curassow.
I think they have the potential to 'bridge the gap' between you Tory voting, harrier shooting, fox hunting toffs and the tree hugging, green voting (1 down 649 to go), loony left and you should see the view from their office!

vicky said...

Alan, calling James and the readers of Sporting Shooter 'harrier shooting' toffs is rather rude.It is rue that some of them hunt foxes (legally) and vote Tory and some may be rich but if you read James' blogs and magazine you would know he is as anti raptor persecution as you are.
The two extremes can meet in he middle, but groups like the RSPB have to be prepared to move a bit too!

James Marchington said...

It's ok Vicky, Alan's pulling my leg a bit there - and he's been equally rude about the 'loony left'!

The Suburban Bushwacker said...

Just like victims, heros are seldom what we want them to be. Sigh
SBW

Vicky said...

Tree huggin aint so looney.....ry it sometime ;-)