Keep BBC Wildlife Fund alive

This video is called David Attenborough – Animal behaviour of the Australian bowerbird – BBC wildlife.

A letter in British daily The Guardian today:

BBC Wildlife Fund must not be axed

Thursday 4 August 2011 19.41 BST

We are concerned and disappointed at the proposal of the BBC executive to close the BBC Wildlife Fund (Environment blog, 2 August). The fund, in its relatively short life, has been an extraordinary success both in raising some £3m for conservation in the UK and overseas, and in bringing together a large number of environmental and development NGOs in support. Many have given a great deal of their time and support to the board of trustees and the excellent small staff team. Together they have attracted substantial public support.

The major factor in bringing such a group together has been recognition of the unique position, role and reputation of the BBC in being able to promote the need for conservation of the natural world to so many across the world, and its ability to engage the public and generate much needed additional resources to enable more conservation work to be achieved. Indeed, in establishing the fund, we believe the BBC recognised the respect in which its natural history unit is so widely held and the value of its wonderful and groundbreaking wildlife documentaries to the corporation over several decades.

The fund provided a mechanism to further this influence and put something back into environmental conservation, as well as championing sustainable outcomes which enable economic betterment for local communities. At a time of obvious crisis for the world’s biodiversity, we can only ask what message it sends for such an iconic and respected organisation as the BBC to appear to be drawing back from its support of the living world. It is our hope that the tremendous work already achieved can continue and that the decision to close the fund can be reversed.

Martin Harper Conservation director, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Dafydd Lewis Hon secretary, Amateur Entomologists’ Society

Tony Gent Chief executive, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation

Julia Hanmer Chief executive, Bat Conservation Trust

Dr Geoff Oxford President, British Arachnological Society

Gary Roberts Chief executive, British Dragonfly Society

Andy Clements Director, British Trust for Ornithology

Matt Shardlow Chief executive, Buglife – the Invertebrate Conservation Trust

Dr Martin Warren Chief executive, Butterfly Conservation

Helen Jackson Chief executive, Campaign for National Parks

Shaun Spiers Chief executive, Campaign for Protection of Rural England

David Morrison Executive director, Caucasus Nature Fund

Dr Martin Willing Hon Conservation officer, Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Mark Rose Chief executive, Flora and Fauna International

Stan Blackley Chief executive Friends of the Earth – Scotland

Kathy Wormald Chief executive, The Froglife Trust

Lucy Cooper Chief executive, The Grasslands Trust

Dr Douglas Parr Chief Scientific adviser and policy director, Greenpeace UK

Grace Yoxon Director, International Otter Survival Fund

Stuart Brooks Chief executive, John Muir Trust

Mario Boza Executive director, The Leatherback Trust

Sam Fanshawe Director, Marine Conservation Society

Trevor James Chairman, National Federation for Biological Recording

Zoltán Kun Executive director, PAN Parks

Jill Nelsen Chief executive, People’s Trust for Endangered Species

Randall Arauz President, Pretoma (Marine Conservation)

Dr Osvaldo Duran Castro President PROAL

Javier Rodriguez President, PROMAR

Dr Alan Stewart Chairman, Conservation Committee, Royal Entomological Society

Paul Knight Chief executive, Salmon and Trout Association

Cathy Dean Director, Save the Rhino International

Julian Roughton Chief executive, Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Todd Steiner Executive director, Turtle Island Restoration Network

Charlie Mayhew, MBE Chief executive, Tusk Trust

Frank Garita Coordinador, Progam de Cetàceos VIDA

Mark Simmonds International director of science, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

Vance Martin President, The Wild Foundation USA

Shaun Leonard Director, Wild Trout Trust

Martin Spray Chief executive, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

David Norman Director of campaigns, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF UK)

Ralph Armand Director general, Zoological Society of London

Glenn Roberts Manager, North East Scotland Biological Records Centre, University of Aberdeen

Patrick Stirling-Aird Secretary, Scottish Raptor Study Groups

Chris Deaves Chair, education and husbandry, British Bee-Keepers Association

See also here.