Last day of the CABS anti-poaching camp in Cyprus
Last day of the anti-poaching camp in Cyprus and time to return to the UK after 4 months spent between Italy, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus. It is time to draw some conclusions.
The first and most important one is about the situation in the British ESBA in Cyprus. Illegal bird poaching could be stopped, quite quickly and easily in fact, if only there was the will to do so from Great Britain. It would be enough to send a contingent of trained policemen to the SBAs to patrol and arrest anyone who traps birds and it would take relatively little time and effort to stop the great majority of those. But the British authorities in Cyprus must have some reason not to do so, either to keep quiet and let the massacre continue for the sake of “peaceful” coexistence with the Cypriots, or for some other reason. So how do we stop this? I’m asking this to you. I’ve told you the story and now I would like your help and opinions. Taking down nets and destroying decoys is not enough and unless we can get 300 volunteers on the ground to do so for a year, poaching won’t stop nor reduce. So how do we get Britain to wake up and stop turning a blind eye on the Cyprus songbird massacre?
Of course my answer is media, pressure, and films. But I might be biased as a filmmaker.
The second and more positive message I have learnt is how much truly dedicated people can achieve. I believe the world is full of people who “care” but don’t act because of disillusionment and fear of failure. The media make us feel disempowered all the time, portraying issues as too big to be tackled by any single person and thus taking away from us the confidence in the power of the individual. But then occasionally we also meet people who alone have managed to move mountains, shake spirits and achieve tangible results and these people aren’t special, they just decided to stop wishing and start acting. I am full of awe and admiration for these people and I am thankful I had the privilege of spending two weeks surrounded by them.
And now, time to start editing!
