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Giving bumblebees a vote

Staff from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust standing with Chris Packham at the Restore Nature Now 2023 March with a big banner

6 October 2023

By Darryl Cox, Senior Science & Policy Officer 

On Wednesday 27 September, the latest State of Nature report was released. Alarmingly, it shows that one in six species in the UK are at risk of extinction. For pollinators, the picture is pessimistic – they’ve declined by 18% since 1970. The report boils down to the bad news – nature is in a terrible state, and the good news – we know how to turn it around and we have evidence to show what works. But this is a nature crisis, so we need to get our skates on. 

Cue, Chris Packham, TV presenter and life-long conservationist, turned activist, who in the weeks leading up to State of Nature being published worked with his small team to rally the environmental and wildlife conservation sector to make a stand for nature outside the offices of the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs. The Restore Nature Now demonstration took place in London on Thursday 28 September, with other smaller protests outside regional offices around the country. Its purpose was to bring people together to speak up for nature and to demand the government takes urgent and meaningful action to restore nature. No more rolling back on the laws that protect nature, no more rolling back on promises to meet our net zero commitments. 

For the first time in the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s history, we joined forces with the 40+ organisations and hundreds of individuals who gathered to protest in London. It was a legal and peaceful protest, filled with ordinary people who care about what is happening to our natural world, people who have had enough of things not going in the right direction and people who are rightly worried for the future. To be there alongside them, to hear the stories, the hopes, the fears, the demands, and the visions for a better future, was a humbling experience. My colleagues and I spent our time talking to people about the bumblebee manifesto, which aims to highlight the key changes we need to see to get bumblebees and other pollinators thriving again. I also had the honour to take to the stand to speak up for bumblebees and promote a message of hope – if you’re interested, you can catch what I imagine the bumblebees would have liked to have said in the video below.  

At the end of the protest, Chris Packham took to the stand. He applauded the environmental sector for coming together to stand up for nature but warned that more action may be necessary. For those who may be confused by the title of his recent TV programme, he wasn’t talking about breaking the law – no paint, no powder, no glue. He was talking about the legal right to peacefully protest, and the fact nature needs people now more than ever: “Nature doesn’t have a voice, but we do. Nature can’t act, but we must.” 

 If all of that has you feeling worried for the future and angry about the lack of progress to help nature from our governments, you’re not alone. It’s said that action can be one of the best remedies for those experiencing eco-anxiety, especially collective action. Here are four things you can do in this moment to stand up for nature: 

  • Read and share the Manifesto for Bumblebees, especially with your elected representatives and local candidates. Be sure to add #BumblebeeManifesto on any social media. 
  • Get involved with the Nature Can’t Wait campaign which has toolkits and resources to help you engage with your elected representatives about nature and the urgent actions needed to restore it. 
  • Talk to your friends, family, colleagues, classmates, neighbours, bus-drivers, anyone who will listen, about how wonderful and important nature is and how much it needs people to stand up for it, now more than ever.

If you are looking for simple actions to help bumblebees in your green space or community, visit our Bee the Change page for simple, quick mirco actions.