Save the Wildlife Garden at the Natural History Museum

Nature matters more than egos.

I’ve recently found out about a threat to the Natural History Museum’s wildlife garden… by the Natural History Museum itself! A redesign of the grounds places a path right through the central pond and surrounding habitats, and would destroy half of the existing garden that has taken twenty years to develop.

A statement from the NHM states: “Feedback from the museum staff and local residents has been positive, and we are consulting museum scientists and biodiversity experts so that the current wildlife and its habitat is disrupted as little as possible.” This is disingenuous because “as little as possible” could well mean a lot! And my source at the museum says that the plans are going ahead against the advice of the scientists and ecologists. Those pushing the redesign are “suppressing dissent within the museum” and “grimly warning staff not to talk to the press.” Public consultation is negligible as the plans have been put on display where only small numbers of visitors will see them. Credible alternatives to the redesign have been brushed aside, and the egos of the landscape designer and public engagement bigwigs prevail.

Ecosystems evolve and cannot be recreated overnight. The placation by the museum that the habitats will be “translocated” is rather ignorant, in my view, as if habitats are like rooms that can simply be re-painted.

So if you, like me, think that nature matters more than egos, please sign the petition to stop the new design being implemented by going to this link …