I was interested to see BTO saying:
“We’ve taken the difficult decision to not return to Global Birdfair as an exhibitor. While we recognise that Birdfair provides an opportunity to meet with members and volunteers, our continued investment in other ways to engage with supporters is proving to be a more effective use of resources.
With its emphasis on high carbon wildlife tourism, today’s Birdfair has a different focus from earlier years. BTO work has highlighted the impacts of climate change on birds, and because of our commitment to working sustainably, we no longer feel it is appropriate to take a stand at the event.
We do recognise the significant contribution the event has made to conservation over so many years and are very grateful for the opportunities that it has provided us over this time.“.
This sounds like an obituary but it is absolutely right as many have said recently. I wrote my September column for Birdwatch last year – click here -after attending the ‘Global’ Bird Fair where I said similar things. The writing was on the wall for Bird Fair, even before covid, as attendances declined, and now they have slumped as has the money raised for nature conservation – click here. The whole emphasis of the event has taken a big step backwards to travel and little else. There was a brief period when Bird Fair was a place to listen to debates and hear about conservation issues – but that is a vanishing part of the recent make-up.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see a hairshirt Bird Fair, but the event ought to be catering for a wide range of people (not just me, and not just those who jet around the globe in pursuit of a bigger list) and that isn’t what it does any more.
Stephen Moss’s response – click here – to my Birdwatch article was a paean to yesteryear rather than a cool look at what is happening today and will happen in the future.
I can imagine attending Birdfair this year just to meet some mates, such as Stephen Moss, and to chew the fat, but it is no longer on my ‘must do’ list of dates for the year. Bird Fair has lost its way.
I wonder what BirdLife International’s position will be.
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