David Levy – Ecosystem collapse – is anyone really interested in the truth and preventing it? – Jun 18
If you were to believe, given that you expect honesty and probity in matters of public consultation, that your public voice will be heard then you would be in the majority.
Most people believe that if they follow the logical arguments and present them in a rational way backed up by evidence, then they will be listened to.
That is the common mistake made by conservation groups and the public and what they don’t realise is that they are confronting an unfair, biased and rigged situation never designed to assist them.
It is about a War of Attrition — and in this war they are the enemy in the eyes of business, Government representatives and regulators. However determined and justified their representation may be, the system is designed to deliver the final pre-agreed result.
Very rarely will justice prevail. Very rarely will the environment be protected and conservation exists only in the minds of the public.
All of the government agencies have wonderful names, but they are only there to shield the applicants of business projects via a plethora of administration that’s aimed to thwart the determination of the objector.
The final result of consultation can only be challenged legally and with all avenues to this blocked, it is hard to see how you can win.
Our nation signed up to the Reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy with restraint placed on catch quotas governed by scientific advice. Faultless you would think, but from Day One we as a nation breached the catch quotas and so broke the law. All the other EU countries did exactly the same.
So who is left to uphold the law?
Clearly the UK can’t prosecute itself.
Yet when Marinet asked other UK NGOs to step up and take this case on, not one wanted to do so.
Marinet sought to broaden this request to a major international NGO — but they are sticking to a policy of negotiation around the table with Governments, rather than enforcing the law that they and others spent years working on.
It is hard to see the logic of this blinkered policy and one can say with some justification it is only about salaries for them.
I am convinced that change will only come once ecosystems have collapsed.
If you don’t believe that’s the likely scenario, just remember we are talking today about the loss of species on land of elephants, rhino, lions and polar bear to name only a few.
How much easier it is to lose species at sea, where out of sight means out of mind.
David Levy
