Chris Packham joins environmental campaigners in mock funeral procession

BBC nature presenter Chris Packham joined hundreds of environmental campaigners in a mock nature funeral procession to highlight the loss of biodiversity in the UK.

Organizers said the march aimed to sound a red alert for nature and highlight Britain’s status as one of the world’s most resource-poor countries. The original plan was to coincide with Earth Day, April 22.

A natural burial procession departs from the Percy Center in New King Street to Bath Abbey.

Packham, who delivered a eulogy at the protest, said he and other mourners were here to raise fear about the state of the natural world and the anarchy we might face if we continue on this path.

Before the march, he uploaded to X a photo of himself and wildlife TV presenter Megan McCubbin, dressed in black. Packham said: The collapse of biodiversity is accelerating around the world, but there is an alternative.

If the political will is there, we can restore nature on a landscape scale. We must restore nature now.

Dressed in red and with white face paint, members of the Red Rebel Brigade are part of an international troupe whose members protest through performance art pieces.

Organizers said Saturday’s march of 400 red rebels was the largest gathering yet, five times larger than ever before. Hundreds of mourners dressed in black also attended the ceremony.

On the Code Red for Nature website, which provides information about the event, people are told to wear black clothing, including shoes.

Guidance on the page also urges people not to bring banners or placards, as the visual appearance of the march is part of a strategy to help raise awareness.

It reads: Please wear black clothing, including shoes, and please do not hang banners or placards. This will not be a protest. A unified visual appearance is an important part of this strategy.

Packham said in a speech that some of the UK’s wildlife and habitats are on their last stand and urged people to take more candid, bold and courageous action, now calling on the government to shut down fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy more quickly. renewable energy.

He said it was time to fight for nature. I think what we’re here to say to people is: Do you really want to wait to have a real natural funeral, because it happens so quickly.

Packham said the UK needed to address our biodiversity issues and ensure we have sustainable ecosystems for the future to avoid anarchy.

He added: It’s not like we don’t have the toolkit to restore, restore, repair and reintroduce nature. We do, but we just have to keep doing it and I guess we’re here to scare people.

Organizers cited the 2023 State of Nature report on UK biodiversity, which found that 43% of the UK’s bird species are in decline and 97% of wildflower meadows have disappeared since the Second World War. They warn that we are entering the sixth mass extinction event.

Service sheets are also distributed to bystanders containing information about natural decline.

Rob Delius, one of the organizers, said: The purpose is to send a strong message for help to nature by creating a visual spectacle, while shocking and inspiring onlookers.

The UK has sleepwalked into this nature crisis, and the fact that we are now one of the most resource-poor countries in the world is simply not being discussed enough.

We hope the march will become a talking point and prompt the public to demand that governments, local authorities, landowners and businesses urgently do more to restore biodiversity.