Online e-petitions are becoming a major way that opposition to government policy is now voiced. Certainly they are vying with wildlife NGOs, journalism and the opposition political parties as the main voice of public criticism.
It is striking how many of the e-petitions on the Westminster parliament website are about wildlife and wildlife protection. Here’s an update:
- Ban driven grouse shooting (closed at 123,076 signatures – yes one has been added in the last week)
- End the badger cull instead of expanding to new areas (48,107 signatures after about a month)
- Suspend Natural England licence to kill buzzards (12,870 signatures after c6 weeks)
- Introduce a moratorium on the hunting of critically declining wading birds (10,000 signatures passed this morning, Day 5)
- Protect UK environment & wildlife – adopt European environmental legislation (5,624 signatures about half way through its period (I’d love to see the Defra response to this one when it tops 10k signatures))
The badger petition has been supported by the Wildlife Trusts nationally – but it is fascinating how the signatures are, so far, so concentrated in southwest England (and Derbyshire – I like Derbyshire). Here’s the map:
There is so much information in these maps about how to target environmental campaigns – I hope the wildlife NGOs have a team of analysts working on them – I’m sure it would repay the investment.
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I like Derbyshire too, and though I live in Staffordshire, I’m a member of Derbyshire WT rather than Staffordshire WT because they support HH Day and speak out against some of the proposals of organisations that may give them money in spite of the fact that they might then not give them money. E.g. The council’s plans to develop a cycle track on The Sanctuary Nature Reserve. Staffordshire WT manage quite a large area in the Dark Peak but don’t appear to support HH Day!