Illegally collected Himalayan plant seeds sold in UK

[alanelliott]

If the reporter could not find the company then they can't be a very good at their job can they? Regards Chris no longer talking to the reporter with further information of the company he did this for a genuine compassionate reason (which is only up to Chris to disclose) and has nothing at all to do with guilt. Sorry but I feel to have to speak up and defend his reputation ...

I and a Neplai colleague tried and failed to find contact details for the company mentioned.

He probably doesn't see anything wrong with what he's been doing but the world has changed from when it was acceptable to just go and collect. As I said earlier its about perception I've had to listened first hand to a what the authorities in Nepal think about Chris and he is seen as a bio-pirate. They don't have the ability to go after him but they will go for the people he used in-country to support his activities and I don't think that's particularly fair.

[Ian Y]

I would like to see this discussion move on from discussing a single case.

We must accept that the world has changed and that we cannot change the past.

Rather than fixating on past activities from press reports we should be informing people about the benefits to conservation  that are contained within the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol.

 We need to show that gardeners and growers can still enjoy our interests and in time grow an ever widening range of plants while also complying with these protocols.

[ian mcdonald]

I certainly agree with Maggi regarding the collection of seed. There are other points to consider as well. I understand (propaganda?) that New Zealand tree ferns are only collected for sale where their habitat is to be destroyed. Why destroy their habitat? How can the British criticize other countries for not protecting their habitats and wildlife when we are destroying ours at an ever increasing rate? Another point is the protection of our own endangered species by ex-situ conservation. Without the intervention of Organisations such as the RBGE we may have already lost some species that have become vulnerable to collection, habitat damage, climate change etc. If seed has been collected illegally abroad then this will have the knock-on effect regarding other genuine collectors. Perhaps other countries could propagate plants themselves under their own government supervision and make seed available when large enough quantities have been collected? What does the Law say regarding the collection of seed from the wild in the UK. As I understand it, it is illegal to collect seed from any plant on Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act and amendments. The permission must be obtained from the landowner for the collection of other seed. Perhaps this is now out of date? A very small amount of seed collected from the wild of plants not considered "at risk" in the UK for ones own garden may be acceptable, but what of commercial collecting. Surely this would put "common" plants in the "vulnerable category. All plants have been taken from the wild at some time and propagated over centuries until the original plant is hardly recognizable through hybridizing. Perhaps a World Wide decision is needed to protect species in the wild and lay down the rules for collecting. Chris Chadwell should be given the opportunity to explain himself, it is easy to condemn someone without knowing all the facts. If collection has taken place without consent then the likely effect will be that all collection is stopped in all countries.

[Tristan_He]

I think the tone of RBGE's response hasn't helped. Mark Watson in the BBC article seems to imply that the Nepali authorities take a general and prejudiced view towards the country of origin of the applicant and / or that it is difficult to imagine that the Nepali authorities could possibly turn down a request by RBGE if it weren't for the activities of collectors. Neither viewpoint is helpful in developing a constructive relationship with governments.

As for a Fairtrade scheme for plants, I'd absolutely love this and maybe it's the way forward. I just had a discussion with Fairtrade UK, who explained that Fairtrade International develop standards. The main potential stumbling block seems to be to convince them not to have a standard for every plant species!

Perhaps this is something the various alpine garden / horticultural societies could discuss with Fairtrade International, who develop the standards for these things? http://www.fairtrade.net/.

[P. Kohn]

I noticed the word 'proportionate' in one of Matt T's posts. The BBC report seems to fail that test.  I recognise that past imperialist activity does not endear us to Nepali authorities but in reality the seeds collected by the likes of Ray Brown and Chris Chadwell do not represent a significant threat to the biodiversity in Nepal. The real dangers come from overgrazing and collection of material for traditional medicines both of which are ever increasing.  Yes we do need to get the Nagoya Convention understood but surely it was aimed at commercial exploitation of resources by multinationals and big pharma and stopping small scale seed collection which probably has real conservation value was an unintended consequence.

 I can't believe that Ray Brown will have made more profit from the 60 seed types he collected than the cost of his expedition. If he didn't get his trip authorised he should have done but the reality is that he probably did no more damage to the environment than any other trekking expedition giving employment to locals. The biggest environmental damage is more likely to have come from all the C02 released by the plane he flew in.

[ian mcdonald]

Maggi. off topic I know but your comment about Spain also applies to England where legally protected hedgerows (Enclosure Act) are bulldozed by developers with the Local Authority turning a blind eye because "development" means jobs.

[Maggi Young]

You are quite right, Ian Macdonald - I know of  instances almost  within the  city of Aberdeen where  wonderful fields of great diversity in wildflowers - where a private person would have committed a crime in attempting to remove any plants  where the whole  area was bulldozed, with no attempt made in any way to rescue the plants from destruction, to make a building site.  Such wanton destruction is heart-breaking and could so easily be avoided.

 

[Maggi Young]

Some assorted comments from FB:

Margaret Young:
 These things are a real worry and not only in the UK, of course. I feel the problem of habitat destruction worldwide is a bigger issue.

Nhu Nguyen:
People can't see the bigger picture. Habitat destruction is so much more important than a few seeds here and there
Sophie Walker This is mean spirited small minded in the extreme. If we start a precious Holy war against dedicated responsible seed collectors we will lose habitat without any hope of preserving diversity. The law is unjust and these people are NOT criminals. We should look at large scale pharmaceuticals who rape the landscape under dodgy contracts from corrupt politicians.
Save the Plant Hunter!!

Tim Ingram:
 I find myself in agreement with Sophie here concerning this particular article - I think it was valuably discussed on the Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum with some good sense from a number of people involved professionally in conservation. These things work (the preservation of habitat) on the basis of small scale interactions between people and the Natural World and local situations multiplied up and not by large scale legislation imposed down. This is just the philosophy of John Muir and others who instigated the National Parks in N. America at a time of run-a-way exploitation.

[ian mcdonald]

I see there is a programme advertised on TV about gold prospecting in the jungle. What about the Environment? Why should a few gold diggers be allowed to destroy an area? It is also happening in Scotland. What were the Scottish parliament thinking of. A minority getting rich at destroying something which will not be replaced.

[Maggi Young]

There is not only the risk of habitat destruction from  gold mining of course -  the mining processes for silver and gold are associated with  lead is associated re silver extraction and  mercury contamination with other toxins like cyanide and arsenic for gold.

 Frankly, the ways by which man can destroy the planet beyond repair  are many and legion.

[Tim Ingram]

This is an extract from an article by Dwight Ripley in the AGS Bulletin (which I used for my 'Random Nuggets from the Bulletin' in December 2012):

"Butte (pronounced 'Bewt'), turned out to be a mad and wonderful mining-town with tall maroon houses piled steeply against a mountain of copper slag. (Here - the Industrial Revolution collided with the romance of the frontier, corporate capitalism battled organised labor, and human appetite laid waste to land and water, yielding vast fortunes for a few and a tragic environmental legacy for the people left behind [butteamericafilm.org]). An interest in plants would seem to be minimal in such a town but Ripley does sing the praises of Draba densiflora and oligosperma, growing on cliffs above the Wise River, which are in cultivation, along with several other western species, sphaerula, incerta and novolympica, which are not."

He wrote this in 1946 and I think on the whole we are more enlightened now despite the pressures of society. If you don't believe this then it is hard to retain any optimism.

[ian mcdonald]

I don,t remember optimism, it seems such a long time ago.

[Susan Band]

Glad to see that in California they are distinguishing between large agricultural seed growers and small micro businesses in regards to a lot of regulations. They also have a system for seed collecting permits on government forestry to encourage native planting.

'In addition to exempting noncommercial seed sharing, the bill also includes an exemption for seed micro-enterprises. This would create new economic opportunities for farmers and increase the diversity in supply of seeds available. The proposed bill distinguishes between large-scale seed producers and small-scale seed producers and exempts micro-enterprises from financially-burdensome testing. As it stands, California seed law is written to regulate large-scale commercial activity, not seed sharing nonprofits or micro-enterprises. '