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Wrestling with leaning towers

Richard Scott, Landlife

In the British Isles we have one of the longest traditions of ecological recording. However, by and large, for many species and habitats we have done little more than plot their decline over long periods of time. In turn over 90% of biological records are never looked at once recordings have been made. Society's priority should therefore lean, especially at a time of climate change, towards practical project work that addresses the opportunity of reversing decline. Rather than being defensive, we have to operate in a responsive way - and deliver real benefits. It requires creative thinking and creative action. In this way creative conservation/ecological restoration are likely to become significantly more important in the near future, particularly to address the impacts of an increasingly urbanised and populated world. Ecology has to be presented in these places in a bold and imaginative way.

The placing of the first stone for the construction of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa occurred on 9th August 1173. By March 15 1298, the first commission of entrusted experts was already facing the task of "the Tower Emergency". Since then there have been 17 committees of experts called to deal with the mysteries of the bell tower of Pisa and its inclination. In 1990 the tower's movement, of roughly one millimetre per year, had brought it to the brink of collapse and made it unsafe for tourists. The last committee, was installed the day after the closing of the Tower, on the day of the Epiphany in 1990.

It was only at this time a solution and a very effective solution was actioned. After 800 years engineers have finally moved it back 45 centimetres (17 inches) and made it stable. Part of the problem in the history of solving the problem was that no one wanted to be on the committee that actioned a mistake and a fallen tower- a recipe for procrastination if ever there was one.

This example shows that most of us have a dogged determination to let it be, until face with imminent disaster. This reflects much that is in evidence with the conservation movement: an inability in policy and decision-making to accept the fluidity of nature. We have been very good at mapping species to extinction with a reluctance to react positively for fear of upsetting these maps. There may be a reluctance to do the sensible thing because of fear of change.

As in many enterprises in business, art, design, architecture some of the most exciting and best solutions develop out of risk. Like the hand in a game of poker, or the throw of the dice there may be an element of luck. Our prescriptions to the landscape can easily become moribund as we establish masterplans, action plans natural areas and character maps.

As we look to the future we need to be aware of a need for flexibility, and the recognition that this is healthy. We need to be cautious about following tight prescriptions of National Vegetation Classifications, while not savouring the time to observe the evolutionary dance of nature before our eyes.

Work by Landlife in council estates in Knowsley on the edge of Liverpool where care has been taken to ensure a good starting point and simple sowing of species have built a diverse wildflower landscape of national note in a comparatively short time. 10 grammes of sown seed of the plant devil's-bit scabious now has populations to rival national nature reserves, and give clues for the real biodiversiy action, and conservation of the rare marsh fritillary butterfly that depends on this plant. The secret to which may well be held in a Knowsley Council estate. It is such places that offer hope and show a balance between the helping hand- perhaps loading the dice a little, but above all giving nature a chance to do its best.

It is by involving communities in these processes of change and transformation that offers the most in terms of environmental education and environmental justice. This is creative conservation working adaptively with circumstance and resources. Nature is about opportunity, nature is about change. It is the wildcard, the surprise, and the delight. Conservation should be about responding to change and should also be about celebrating the fact.

Landlife suggest highlighting groups/individuals who are grasping the potential of working at scale, and who already impacting on society. Notable projects are those that capture the public imagination, for example, the Eden Project in Cornwall, and hopefully our own National Wildflower Centre on Merseyside which actively seek a broad range of connections and operate in the public realm - direct contact with members of the general public as well as a broad cross sections of science and the media.