BirdLife’s CEO Martin Harper’s opinion on civil society and conservation
We are currently witness to a disturbing trend around the world: healthy civil society filled with debate, dissent and non-violent activism is threatened.
The Civicus Watchlist draws attention to countries where there is a serious decline in civic space. Their latest update reveals this is no longer confined to a few usual suspects. Just this month they highlight serious concerns regarding the exercise of civic freedoms in the United States of America, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan, and Serbia.
And Global Witness reports that “hundreds of land and environmental defenders are threatened, arrested and killed every year for their part in resisting environmental devastation.”
BirdLife International is a civil society partnership. Our 123 Partners in 119 countries are independent of government and channel their love for and concern about nature to effect change nationally and together globally. They do so in a huge variety of contexts and are effective because they are skilled at navigating their own national politics.
We are united in our belief that governments make better decisions when civil society voices are heard.
BirdLife worked hard, and successfully, as part of a broad coalition, to help enshrine the human right to a healthy environment with our 1Planet1Right campaign in the United Nations. We did so because the critical conservation work for species and habitats we do in all of these countries can only truly flourish in healthy societies.
Where we have civil rights, to free expression, the right to speak out, defend science and assemble peacefully in protest, we stand the strongest chance of saving life on this planet.
Sadly, we know well and have seen the chilling, diversely negative effects authoritarianism has on our Partners and our work.
And this is why we will speak out on topics which may at first glance seem out of our lane, to some too overtly political, and perhaps even risky.
If civil society actors like ourselves and others are unable to give a voice to the voiceless, we cannot prevail in saving the planet. As we know from the 1930s, there are many different paving stones in the road to authoritarianism and we must be vigilant and outspoken as each one is laid.
When the powerful forces of unbridled profit use their vast wealth to stifle those who speak up, we are all at risk. For example, although strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) are legal in many US states, they were outlawed last year in the European Union.
Věra Jourová, the then EU Vice-President for Values and Transparency, said: “The right to freedom of expression and information, including the respect for the freedom and pluralism of the media are fundamental rights and core values of the European Union. SLAPPs undermine these fundamental rights and hinder the work of those being the watchdogs of our democracies. The new rules will protect those working and acting in the public interest from actions that aim to censor, harm, harass, and silence them.”
The much-publicised lawsuit brought by an oil pipeline company against Greenpeace in which a jury found the non-violent environmental activist group liable for $660 million in damages is only the most recent example of a weaponised court system. Greenpeace will appeal, and hopefully survive this blow capable of silencing them. The truth at the heart of this case is unassailable: that phasing out fossil fuels and avoiding catastrophic climate change is essential to our survival.
Despite the EU’s progressive SLAPP legislation, the modest EUR15 million the Commission spends in public interest funding for environmental NGOs is the latest target of forces who seek to eliminate healthy debate on these critical nature and climate issues. A vote is scheduled in the European Parliament in May aiming to eliminate the funding. We are fighting for this investment in the public good.
In Brussels, and around the world, BirdLife provides science-based analysis and data to inform legislation. We do so to help ensure some balance in the political process against the billions spent by industry to continue to pursue environmentally devastating practices.
According to journalist Arthur Neslen, “The EU Commission’s public interest funding here amounts to just 0.001 percent of the financial firepower mobilised by the planet’s richest corporations to defend their planet-baking modus operandi.”
Yet empowered by this small budget, our green coalition managed, with facts, to help Parliament achieve the EU Nature Restoration law last year. This matters not just because we want wildlife to thrive but also because we know that a healthy natural environment underpins all human prosperity. So, the new law provides a major boost for Europe’s commitment to protect biodiversity and secure a healthier future for birds, people and the rest of nature.
This is not the time to despair, to look away. It is the time to be clear, confident and stand together with those that share our values. It is why we express our solidarity with all in civil society, and especially our conservation colleagues, who work to address the challenges and injustices people and our planet face.
We are fuelled in our fight by our successes. Just last week, our Partner BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds won a major court victory which recognizes six no-fishing zones around the extinction-threatened African Penguins’ major breeding colonies. This outcome is proof that when environmental NGOs are active in healthy civil society good outcomes flow, and those without a voice can still be heard and heeded.
