Page 25 - The Villager May 2021

Estate News

agency. His idea, at first, was simply
to quickly ascertain which species
of threatened wild animal needed
precedence over other threatened
species. He told a newspaper there
were so many species near the brink of
extinction but academia was too slow
in financing and especially publishing
much-needed research. He suggested
the public raised funds for ‘emergency
Michelle Nijhuis Greta Thunberg research’. The idea worked. Energetic
young scientists were found – and
activities, countless thousands of Nijhuis makes the important point EWT went on to broaden its scope and
species of plants and animals have been that it is individuals, like Rosalie Edge, become a crucial element in South
obliterated since Linnaeus’ time. Consider who are steering us away from two Africa’s conservation efforts.
birds alone: out of approximately 11 154 centuries of slaughter and the ‘Age of Some will recall, back in the 1960s
surviving species 159 have, like the dodo, Extinctions’. However, Edge is just one when a student at the world Habitat
become extinct and roughly a quarter are of many bold voices to have spoken out. Congress (in Canada) called out, “Think
threatened – some critically. If nothing is There were more famous characters, globally! Act locally!” He was quoting the
done, then one third of all bird species such as Aldo Leopold who, when my Scottish planner and conservationist,
and an even greater proportion of birds parents were children, wrote vividly of Patrick Geddes, who coined the phrase
by volume, will be gone by the time wildlife and sparked worldwide interest in 1915. That student’s voice was
today’s toddlers reach retirement. in it. A generation later, Rachel Carson, heard worldwide and gave direction
Nijhuis recalls an amateur birder, and her brilliant book, Silent Spring, to the growing but not yet focussed
Rosalie Edge, who in 1929 attended did it for me. It triggered huge changes conservation movement.
a meeting of the prestigious National in environmental laws and the creation As Nijhuis says, while balancing
Association of Audubon Societies in the of more protection agencies. human needs we must save whole
United States to ask why they supported And look at the recent impact of Greta ecosystems, not just charismatic
paying bounties to people for killing Thunberg, the Stockholm teenager species. She singles out Namibia
Alaska’s bald eagles. She was met with who skipped school and triggered an as an example of the essential
hostility because, she discovered, the international resolve to fight climate holistic approach. Our neighbour’s
‘conservationists’ were interested not in change. Industry has shown too little conservation approach aims to get
saving species in general but only species genuine concern. “You should be away from the top-down effort guided
‘that people liked’. The eagles were ashamed of yourselves!” she said to by governments and international
preying on the young of animals that a startled gathering of international organizations outside Namibia. It aims
men liked to hunt. figures. She was then 17 but was to empower Namibia’s own and locally-
The full title of Michelle Nijhuis’ book applauded globally. based conservancies to
(not yet available in South Africa) is On a local level, there was consider both the needs of
Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Clive Walker, a young wildlife wildlife and those of people.
Age of Extinction. artist in his 30s, working in Hope, she says, springs
Edge’s boldness eventually led to a Johannesburg city centre from collective action, but
Audubon societies recognising the need gallery. Almost 50 years ago the power of one is so often
to protect not just popular species but he set up the Endangered the trigger for it and for
the ecosystems upon which all living Wildlife Trust (EWT) saving the ecosystems upon
things depend. So conservation has – now South Africa’s which our ‘beloved beasts’
become the ‘wise use’ of the living world. primary wildlife protection Clive Walker are absolutely dependent.

The Villager • Issue 5 2021 • 23