Facing the future challenges

by Teresa Dent CBE, Chief Executive

Alastair Leake, our director of policy and Sir Jim Paice, our chairman of trustees, are set to face the future policy challenges ahead. © Tim Scrivener

Jim Paice MP joins as new chairman of trustees. Greater emphasis on policy work in all three countries. Wonderful job done by all the GWCT staff, supported by loyal members, donors and supporters.

July 2018 saw the handing on of the baton; our longest serving chairman of trustees, Ian Coghill, stepped down and Sir James Paice was elected in his stead. We are enormously grateful to Ian Coghill for the eight years he was our chairman, but also for his three stints before that as a trustee. His enthusiasm for all aspects of country sports and wildlife conservation, born in his boyhood despite an urban upbringing, remained undimmed, and that passion was reflected in his extraordinary commitment, as chairman, to seeing GWCT grow, raise income and achieve good outcomes under his tenure. Ian combined a deep knowledge of the countryside and its wildlife with the ability to communicate simply but eloquently his passion for country sports, together with the contribution they make to our environment, our rural economy and our culture – the three classic pillars of sustainability. He did a wonderful job for us and we will miss him enormously.

Many members will know Sir Jim Paice from his time as MP for south-east Cambridgeshire and his record as a Minister in Defra. Like Ian, Jim has had a very longstanding connection with the GWCT, with a long-term involvement as a trustee and a connection to the Trust going back to his childhood. Jim is also a passionate countryman and keen shot.

Jim becomes chairman at a time when shooting is facing probably more threats and challenges than it has since the ban on hunting. Jim’s long political experience (30 years as an MP) will be extremely useful and help us steer a path over the next five years to get GWCT research into policy, achieve changes and improvements in practice, and help connect our organisation to the wider public.

Looking back over 2018, the issues that stand out are mainly policy issues. The investment we made a decade ago in ensuring we had staff with the knowledge and skills to take our research into policy has proven to be an enormously valuable investment. This combines with our more recent investment in building policy work capacity in both Scotland and Wales.

2018 saw an enormous amount of policy work in all three countries in connection with the UK’s exit from the EU, and the design of new agri-environment schemes that will replace our current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) derived schemes. It saw the publication of the long-awaited Defra 25 Year Environment Plan. We were delighted to see GWCT's initiative of Farmer Clusters specifically mentioned as an example of the type of Nature Recovery Network that the Westminster Government wishes to see in the future. GWCT’s special alchemy of science and practice has made our policy team valued advisors and partners for the creation of future policy in England, Scotland and Wales this year.

We consider ourselves to be ecologists, not social scientists, but it has become clear in recent years that working in the way we do – closely with gamekeepers, shoot managers, farmers and other land managers – that we have acquired considerable social science skills in terms of understanding how to persuade and inspire those people to do more for conservation today than they did yesterday. In achieving that we owe a considerable amount to one man, our biodiversity advisor for the last 30 years, Peter Thompson, who will be retiring just as this Review of 2018 hits your doorstep. Peter has been an inspiration to many farmland conservationists, he has done fantastic work for the Trust and all the people we work with. We will miss him enormously.

Peter epitomises the wonderful job done by all our staff and their hard work in 2018 is amply illustrated in the pages that follow. None of this work would be possible without the tremendous support of our members, donors, the charitable trusts and others who support us, and the county groups who do such a wonderful job raising income throughout the year. To all of them my thanks, the thanks of all the staff and the thanks of Ian and Jim.

Our retiring biodiversity officer, Peter Thompson, has been an inspiration to many farmland conservationists over the last 30 years and will be missed enormously. © Tim Scrivener/Farmers Weekly