The eco-warriors

Awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2019 in recognition of its research in global nature conservation, the role of Kent-based DICE has never been more relevant

- Pat Crawford

Sir David Attenborough’s documentary Extinction: the Facts presented on BBC1 brought home to viewers the startling reality of the consequences of humankind’s disrespect and downright abuse of the natural world.

The power of this inspiring documentary can be judged by the massive response from all around the world; Attenborough himself gained one million followers in five hours when he signed on to Instagram recently.

But way before 2020 we were warned about the disaster we were creating. Thirty years’ ago Emeritus Professor Ian Swingland was one of the first to perceive the enormity of the impending catastrophe. It was Ian’s vision and singlemindedness that led, in 1989, to the launch of DICE – Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology – the research center attached to the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent.

Today DICE is a world leader and we can be immensely proud that it is based here in Kent. The UK is globally recognised as the best place to study conservation in the world and the contribution made by DICE is at the forefront.

However, we cannot be complacent. It has just been announced that ‘Britain is at the bottom of the G7 biodiversity league table, with analysis from the Natural History Museum finding that humans have destroyed half of the country’s nature.’

We are indeed fortunate that no institution is more aware than DICE that a tunnel vision approach to conservation simply doesn’t work. Professor Swingland stood down from the University of Kent some years ago but his thinking remains the same as it was back in 1989.