Sustainable agriculture for biodiversity, biodiversity for sustainable agriculture

In Victorian Britain exotic plant species were celebrated, glass palaces built to house them and visitors from all around would marvel at the opening of an orchid wrenched from the forests of the empire. Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) once won awards for its foliage; now it is the textbook ‘invasive’ species: a scourge on landscapes and undermining building foundations. Cultural values shape our approach to conservation as much as scientific evidence and Fred Pearce is out to remind us of this in his book, The new wild: why invasive species will be nature’s salvation. He follows the line of thinking popularised by naturalists such as Richard Mabey (Weeds: the story of outlaw plants) and Emma Marris (Rambunctious garden), which reframe the central tenet of pristine conservation and put chaos and change centre and front. Any self-respecting environmentalist would be troubled at the extent and manner of extermination efforts on ‘invasive’ species; the culling of grey squirrels is done on the quiet in many British woodlands, while the machine-gunning of goats on Galapagos is disturbing in the extreme. Armies of conservation volunteers use their weekends to rip out Himalayan balsam, which provides critical nectar sources for Britain’s honeybees in the face of crushed populations of wild and meadow flower. We do, as Pearce alerts us, need to see beyond the duality of good and bad species, and adjust to the reality that nature and the environment is always in flux. Seeing beyond anthropocentric value judgements is critical for the future of a thriving diverse and rapidly changing planet – Pearce wastes no time in highlighting how established values define conservation efforts – but does so with a great number of his own value based approaches – non-natives as ‘nature at its best’ appears perhaps the most glaring. This is a combative book. Fighting an established orthodoxy that ‘protects loser species’ and flagging what he calls a ‘dangerous mythology’ of antiquated ideas of conservation. Pearce withholds from direct accusation of ‘green xenophobes’ but the suggestion is but a short jump from the loaded language of conservation’s ‘terrorist species’ or ‘eco-vagabonds’, to that of nationalistic far-right extremists. The brief flurry into the foundations of conservation narratives from Western Christian beginnings deserves more investigation – its relation to contemporary human migration debates more so. Invasive species generally move into disturbed areas, affected by dramatic shifts that have in turn shifted the balance of native species, normally this is human induced. Pearce points us to the scapegoating of Nile perch in Lake Victoria which – much like many other invasives – were taking advantage of a human-altered ecology, in this case, decades of eutrophication of the water courses. At times Pearce shows moments of sage clarity: ‘Demonising alien species obscures [evidence] and prevents effective action to halt a problem. ’ Listen up. Giving precedence to invasive species, urban ecologies and dynamic ecosystems where humans are key actors has been criticised as a lazy approach to conservation, leaving the door open to climate change deniers and developers to go on paving paradise. But that would be failing to see the central tenet of The new wild: alien species are in fact our salvation – the villains are the heroes. Sycamore, a much reviled and misunderstood broadleaf, is now seen as a critical successor to British ash trees, as the second most abundant tree in the nation succumbs to ash dieback disease. Invaders could well be Darwin’s ‘fittest’ adapting to a changing climate, taking advantage of gaps and providing an ecosystem that can be resilient. As we enter the Anthropocene, we should do so with open eyes. The new wild adds another voice to the always messy, complex and highly emotional world of conservation. Our stories that we live by need to catch up with the realities of a human-influenced, hybridised natural world. Nature isn’t waiting for us and we should be listening more.