Speaking English

If we’re to have wildlife conservation worthy of the name, we need to extend it beyond the ‘special sites’ - and the specialists - says English Nature’s new chief executive, David Arnold-Forster. Interview by Martin Wright.

Conservationists are not always the best of communicators. Burning enthusiasms for obscure liverworts - however ecologically vital - leave most people cold. As can talk peppered with phrases such as ‘SSSIs’ and ‘Biodiversity Action Plans’.

It’s something that English Nature’s newly appointed chief executive, David Arnold-Forster, is determined to turn around. "I am itching to engage with a very broad community - we need to get much more of the ‘people dimension’ into our core business of wildlife gain... And that means the language does have to change. You try talking to the public about BAP plans. Ninety-five per cent of them will think you’re talking about a bread roll!"

English Nature’s focus has, of necessity, been on the special sites - the Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and the National Nature Reserves. These are "the beacon sites for wildlife - the jewels in the crown". But if Arnold-Forster’s vision of wider public appeal is to gain currency, then the focus has to open out to include the wider countryside. And that’s where Natural Areas come in.

"They cover every bit of the country, and they do not overlap. Some of them are very obvious, such as my home patch, the North Yorks Moors." Others are less so. A long, thin strip of magnesian limestone, for example, doesn’t quite evoke the same recognition. "They may not exactly be at the fore of the public’s consciousness, and we’ll have to work hard in order to build up an identity for them." But he sees a time when schoolchildren will learn about the characteristics of their own Natural Area, and when local planners will take more account of its key features. "This isn’t that outrageous an idea. In Switzerland there are communities actually doing this sort of thing with their agri-environment schemes." In wildlife terms, says Arnold-Forster, the Natural Areas "will help secure the habitat for so many species which cannot survive on SSSIs alone. Hedgerows, river and wildlife corridors, for example, which don’t merit SSSI status themselves, but are absolutely essential for a huge range of wildlife."

The wider countryside has, of course, also been the focus of the government’s Countryside Bill. A triumph for wildlife? Up to a point. "It raises the profile of SSSIs, and moves us into a field of positive management, of ‘pound notes and powerful punches’ as opposed to ‘pennies and pea-shooters’. It is fantastic to have more cash and legislation, but that does not mean that the world is going to be sorted overnight. The Bill may raise expectations in some areas that may not be that easy to fulfil, because it doesn’t deliver all the resources that would be needed."

When it comes to farming comm-unities, resources are particularly stretched. Arnold-Forster holds out some hope that the increase in countryside stewardship-style funding will help farmers combine a viable business with active conservation. He acknowledges that some have been very uneasy about such a role. "It was fashionable to say, ‘we’re in the business of producing food - we’re not glorified park keepers.’" But that’s changing. "Younger farmers in particular are starting to think ‘we’re proud to have produced this landscape’... By farming in a more environmentally sensitive manner, they’re not just producing a food crop, but a ‘conservation crop’ as well - one that brings with it increased diversity, and safeguards threatened species and landscapes that society values... Look at it like that, and the green environment scheme payment is actually a payment for that crop. So it’s not a compensatory payment, nor a subsidy - both have connotations of handouts to impoverished farmers - it is something that relates to production. And that helps bring back some self-esteem and pride among farmers."

There’s business value in biodiversity, too. "There are all sorts of opportunities to use various parts of our biodiversity in a way that can bring economic gain. You can look at new uses for existing crops, or for native plants - such as St John’s Wort [whose healing properties have been much in the news lately]. There is nothing wrong with making environmental assets sweat. What you end up with are environmental assets that are bigger and stronger as a result."

9 October 2001

Martin Wright