.jpg) |
| In 'precipitous decline' - turtle doves (photo: Wikimedia Commons) |
This is the third extract in the witness statement of TV broadcaster Chris Packham in his ongoing defamation case that is now in its second week in the High Court in London. See previous two blogs for the earlier extracts.
I have always been active and vocal about wildlife and conservation, especially where injustice is involved.
In April 2014, I took a small production team to Malta to record the spring shooting of turtle doves - a species in precipitous decline.
Our campaign, Massacre on Migration - Malta highlighted the illegal and horrifying slaughter of migrating birds and the bravery of local people who opposed it.
The campaign featured on daily video blogs posted to YouTube.
Later that year, our team received the Green Ribbon Political Award from the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management.
I am also a vociferous opponent of the badger cull and a leading campaigner in the call to ban driven grouse shooting.
My deeply held views continue to attract criticism from the shooting community and fox hunting fraternity.
Despite what they say, I have not campaigned from an ‘anti-shooting’ agenda.
I have campaigned against illegal or unsustainable shooting and illegal fox hunting.
We live in one of the most nature-depleted nations on earth, and we are in the midst of a climate and biodiversity crisis.
The science says we are in big trouble and so we must act more broadly and more urgently to protect our environment and all the species that live in it.
I would much prefer that there was less division, less side-ism and more cooperation so that hunters, shooters, farmers and conservationists could work co-operatively and creatively together to address these issues which affect all of us.
In 2010, I was awarded the Dilys Breese BTO Medal for my "outstanding work in promoting science to new audiences".
In 2013, I was made an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton.
In 2014, 2015, 2020 and 2021 I was voted ‘Conservation Hero of the Year’ in the Birders’ Choice Awards organised by Birdwatch magazine (in 2020 I won jointly with my step-daughter, Megan).
In May, 2015 I was placed second in a line-up of Britain’s 50 most influential conservation heroes in The Wildlife Power List featured in BBC Wildlife Magazine.
In 2016, I was honoured to be presented with The Christopher Parsons Award for Outstanding Achievement by Sir David Attenborough in recognition of my significant contribution to wildlife film-making, conservation and the public’s understanding of the environment at the Wildscreen Panda Awards.
In 2018, I received an honorary Doctorate from Royal Holloway, University of London for my outstanding services to wildlife conservation.
In 2019, I was extremely proud to be appointed a CBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List for services to wildlife and nature conservation.
While honoured that some of my work has been recognised, I am acutely aware of the extraordinary pressures on our natural environment and the responsibility we bear for passing these to the next generations - a planet that has been depleted of much of its wildlife.
I am now 61, and I have witnessed catastrophic destruction and declines in my lifetime on my watch.
I am riven with guilt and this now fuels my ferocious energy to try to put things right.
Thus I work every day, sometimes all day.
I generally don’t 'do' holidays, and I spend considerable sums of my own money funding others’ and my own campaigns.
I remain determined to make some positive difference before my time is up.
I also have a very aggravated sense of injustice which has been, and remains, highly motivational in my life.
I don’t rely upon others’ reassurance, praise, or flattery; in fact, I am happier with creative criticism. I like - even actively enjoy - being wrong, and being able to correct myself.
I find this invigorating.
No comments:
Post a Comment