Wildlife conservationists form new alliance

The group comprises wildlife charities, organisations and independent ecologists

Wildlife conservationists and campaigners on the Isle of Man have joined together to form a new lobby group in a bid to create a "stronger voice for Manx nature".

The Manx Nature Alliance comprises local wildlife charities and organisations as well as a number of independent professional ecologists.

The group said its goal was the conservation and restoration of the island's wildlife and habitats and ensuring the topic remains high on the island's agenda.

Alliance secretary Philippa Tomlinson said the voices speaking up for the island's ecology had previously been "scattered" and "uncoordinated".

Manx Nature Alliance includes the Isle of Man Fungus Group, Manx Bat Group, Manx BirdLife and Manx Wildlife Trust as well as a group of independent professional ecologists.

Dr Tomlinson said the delivery of government’s Biodiversity Strategy had been "painfully slow" and the resources to carry out the work required had become "seriously depleted in the last decade".

It was therefore time to speak with a "single strong voice" to policy makers, she continued.

'Set the tone'

The new group said it would carry out research on the state of the island's nature and wildlife, as well as look at the science and data, which would enable its members to discuss and come to a consensus before lobbying the government and raising awareness of specific issues.

Dr Tomlinson said its first focus would be designations of areas of land for nature, which was a statutory requirement of government that "urgently" needed to be progressed.

It would also work to ensure the island's Biodiversity Strategy, which is due for review next year, was "fit for purpose" as it would "set the tone" for progress on the protection for nature in the immediate future, she said.

Manx nature was at its "lowest ebb" in the diversity of the island's native wildlife and in the abundance of individual species, documented in the Manx red lists of birds, plants and freshwater fish, which showed many species were in decline, Dr Tomlinson added.