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Mike, you made a very strong starting point about estuaries being the kind of
crucible of the industrial revolution and a test bed for
where next; could you just say something about that?
Yes, I think what we've
we're on the point of a global revolution
like the industrial revolution
and it's how do we remain competitive economically but how do
we actually start improving our natural assets which the estuary is absolutely
rich in
rather than for them to decline
and this about actually making sure we've got a long-term vision
for the economy and the environment. You can have a world-class economy with
a world class environment and in fact you can't have one without the other
and that is where we need to go next and this requires a conversation
that is forging new partnerships
we're up for talking with business as well as government with other part of civil society
and that's what we hope comes out of today.
And, Mike, convince us the RSPB, the nature interest are up for this, they
want to involve themselves and willing to play
a key role in making this happen. Yes, I think what you have to remember is ultimately
we're here
for outcomes
and our outcomes are for the natural environment
and for benefiting people
and we will work with whoever we need to as a charity in order to do that. Do you think
you've got to those twenty-first century outcomes
so that we can do it in terms of nature but can we do it in terms of the
other social goods that are right at the centre of these choices?
Well, we know already because by the fact that we have a million members
says people are voting with their feet as to what is important to them
what they care about;
I think actually today
what we've identified is there needs to be much clearer focus
across all of those sectors
if we're actually going to achieve that. So there's more to go but that that's the
conversation has to be generated.
We start with the ecology first. 'Ecology up' was a phrase I heard
in a room today. Can you just say something about how you understand that? You know
its a simple base of fact, a fact of life is that we've only got one
home, it's called the planet
and you know if you don't start with that you're heading for a car crash; and that's
essentially exactly in the estuary
this is a natural system, huge flows of energy and
the transport sediment transport all those things underpin
both the natural environment
and the economy.
What you heard in the room today, do you take a sense of optimism today here? Well I'm not sure
whether you can here it now but there was a big buzz been generated and I think what struck
me as someone who has come in to this conversation is that
people are really up for taking it on to the next step