The Old Diocesan Issue 10 - Magazine - Page 49
an example of convivial conservation
– and is it a sustainable option?
Philosophically, and poetically,
we aspire to this wonderful coexistence of humans and animals.
However, my forecast is that we’ll
end up with even more fortified
conservation in the next 50 years.
In terms of declaring protected
spaces on a map, there are great
areas, but it’s the integrity of the
ecology, the biodiversity that exists
there, that is just as important.
And that’s under serious threat.
I’m not optimistic. The
conservation community does an
incredible job under unbelievable
pressure, but I think the rapacious
behaviour of humans will need to
be controlled under increasingly
fortress-like conditions.
You cite the WEF’s Global Risk
Report, which found that “almost
90% of the experts involved in
compiling the 2022 report saw
the future in a negative way”.
Why do you think it’s so difficult
to prompt action from people?
Our political and economic
paradigms are in contradiction
to our environmental and social
objectives. Our political economy
is based on short-term thinking,
maximum extraction, maximum
GDP growth, and wealth creation,
yet we know we live in a finite
world with restrictive planetary
boundaries. Our social objectives
are based around equitable
distribution, whereas the system
favours unequal distribution. The
sustainable development agenda,
the 17 SDGs and agenda 2030
may well end up being strategic
denialism on a grand scale.
You and Ian discuss keystone species
in your book. It’s an interesting
paradigm for getting us to think
about how whole systems work.
In conservation and education,
we talk a lot about charismatic
With Ian McCallum (right), co-author of Living in Two Worlds (and former Bok).
species. Kids learn about lions
and rhinos, but not enough about
more obscure species such as
termites and bees, which are
just as important. Ian McCallum
suggests that homo sapiens is not
a keystone species. EO Wilson’s
work on ants showed us that if
you take ants out of a system, it
will collapse – but if you remove
humans, there’s little change.
In fact, everything flourishes.
We changed the government’s
mind on the issue, and went
from being their biggest enemy
to being one of their biggest
sources of information on the
industry. We need institutional
action – but if we’re going to
make things better, we need
the compassion and empathy
to reconnect our knowledge to
behaviour. Otherwise there will
be no actual change…
On a more positive note, Blood
Lions has brought about positive
change in terms of conservation.
That film was released in 2015,
and our campaign is still going.
That’s rare, even for the most
hard-hitting wildlife films.
Ian-Malcolm
Rijsdijk (1991B)
is a film scholar,
birder and
environmentalist.
He lectures at UCT.
Living in Two Worlds
Living in Two Worlds (Quickfox) is the result of
a four-month, 5,400km non-motorised journey
by authors Ian McCallum and Ian Michler
through six countries across southern Africa,
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.
The insights that emerged from this journey
form questions that demand to be answered
by all human beings – questions that highlight
the greatest ecological challenges of our time.
“Delivered by two masterful, multi-disciplined
writers and storytellers, it is a book for our time.”
–Vance Martin, WILD Foundation
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