Vegans Love Carnivores

Reposted from my article on The Guardian The term vegan has been around for 70 years and its long list of health and environmental benefits has not been lost on some of the most influential people in the world: Ghandi, Al Gore and Bill Clinton, to name a few. Never one to pass on a growing trend, Hollywood has seen the number of celebrity vegans increase exponentially – even Mike Tyson has reportedly turned vegan to reap the health benefits. The United Nations has urged more people to try out a plant-based diet to help reduce the burden that humans place upon the planet (and on our waistlines) but, despite all this, only 2% of Brits claim to be vegetarian and a mere 1% classify themselves as strict vegans . If we know we should be eating less meat, what steps can businesses take to help us transition to a meatless diet? Make vegan wins clearer on packaging Although some supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s are starting to include the golden phrase “suitable for vegans” on their produ...

This is an article I wrote for The Conversation on 26 August 2014: Bribery won’t stop Sweden’s wolf hunters Conservationists have recently become very excited about financial incentives. The idea is to pay people to do things that will help biodiversity, for example, where farmers are paid not to till crops that reduce soil erosion or where landowners are given money to plant trees to capture carbon in the atmosphere. This technique, considered by some as bribery to do what you want, has actually changed environmental behaviour for the better in some significant instances. “Great”, I hear conservationists say, “let’s pay everyone to do exactly what we want!” The possibilities are endless: we could give farmers money to set aside land for nature , we could make fishing more sustainable , or we could reward people to not kill threatened predators . There are, however, problems with the system behind paying people to do things that they wouldn’t normally do, not least because some...

Taken from my article published on The Conversation There has been a huge increase in attention recently to the problem of wildlife poaching, mostly from the stream of grisly stories from Africa about rhino and elephants illegally killed for their horn and ivory. At the same time there has been a growing awareness of trophy hunting, with pictures of hunters, sometimes minor celebrities, posing next to their kill prompting furious outcry . But these two forms of wildlife are being wrongly lumped together. Despite both resulting in an animal’s death, they are entirely different. Poaching is the illegal killing of wildlife, undertaken for reasons that may include revenge, meat for food or sale, tradition or money. Poachers might be poor locals from the area to foreigners capitalising on the lucrative illegal wildlife trade. By contrast, trophy hunting is the entirely legal killing of wildlife, often carried out by rich foreigners for sport and enjoyment. Both result in one animal fewer in...

Today, July 11, is World Population Day : a day to think about the human population and how we  can best ensure that our population is sustainable for the health and well-being of both humans and of the planet. This day was started in 1987 by the United Nations as a way for awareness to be raised on the potential problems with an increasing population, as well as the impact that the current population has on the world. Since 1987, our population has grown by 2 billion. Let's put that into perspective: From http://library.fes.de/fulltext/bueros/simbabwe/01061002.htm We have seen unprecedented growth of human populations since the industrial revolution.  The keen-eyed of you may notice that the UN projections show that population growth may tail off in the future .  "Great", you say, "we don't have to worry about population growth from now on!".  I wish this were true. Right now, we consume more resources than the earth is able to replenish: ...

Article on my livestock guarding dog research on  Mongabay Dogs protect livestock from predators, predators from humans The last couple centuries have seen the decline of many large predator species. While there has been a surge of recovery and reintroduction programs to combat this problem, human population growth and limited protected areas have led to increased rates of human-wildlife conflicts in many regions of the world. A study published recently in the Wildlife Society Bulletin tested the ability of trained guarding dogs to protect livestock in South Africa and found it to be highly effective, protecting humans and predators alike. In South Africa, predators such as large cats often live in close proximity to farmlands and often times will prey on livestock. Predation of livestock can take a toll on farmers’ income, often costing more than $3,000 in annual losses. This, in turn, can lead farmers to hunt and kill cats as a means of protecting their livelihoods. Leopards ...

The last few decades of conservation policy has focused on the links between biodiversity degradation and poverty .  Whilst commendable in terms of human welfare, I think this direction is misleading: it has the mistaken premise that once people are not "poor" any more (what is "poor"?) they will no longer damage the environment.  This couldn't be further from the truth. The "poor" Himba tribes of Namibia hunt wildlife but have a very low overall impact on the environment Case in point: emerging markets, such as in China, are expected to have unprecedented demand for meat products as the poorer classes become more wealthy and demand these "luxury" items.  And we all know what an increase in meat production does to the environment . Next point:  Carbon emissions.   Middle- to higher-income countries have far greater carbon emissions than those in low-income countries .  I don't even need to expand here about what increased carbon e...

This is a repost from my article that was just published in the Guardian  newspaper: The conflict between farmers and predators has wiped out the UK's large carnivores. More must be done to improve coexistence When you take a bite from your beef burger, have you ever stopped to think about the other animals besides the cow that were killed in the making of your dinner?  It is a little known fact that the meat industry tends to be at odds with wildlife conservation .  But how can this be? The UK used to be home to vast plethora of wonderful beasts; the grey wolf, the brown bear, and the Eurasian lynx, to name but a few.  However, farmers thought that these carnivores killed livestock and so were wiped out many centuries ago .  Now, our largest land predators (besides humans, of course) are badgers and foxes – and yet the meat industry is still waging war against these two species . In other areas of Europe, carnivores are met with a similar fate...