Wildlife is, for many reasons in our modern world, constantly under threat. Yet there is an organisation that makes it its business to speak out for birds and wildlife, take action and help keep our natural world safe. When a new airport development was proposed in 2002 at Cliffe in the marshes of Kent — threatening a vital habitat for wetland birds, water voles and endangered insects — the environmental charity launched a campaign that saw 150,000 of its members petitioning the government to oppose the development. Letters were also written to the government and a lobby in Westminster put members face to face with their MPs. It worked: in 2003 the Cliffe airport proposal was dropped.

Success can often take much longer and is born of sheer persistence. The RSPB campaigned doggedly for 30 years against the trade in wild birds, a business that caused the deaths of millions of birds and the near-extinction of species such as the Lear’s Macaw. Finally, in 2007, the European Union adopted a permanent ban on the import of birds caught in the wild.

Sometimes it is the unforeseen consequences of modern farming methods that put wildlife at risk. Vultures are dying at an incredible rate in Asia, because an anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac is commonly given by vets to livestock. When they feed on the contaminated carcasses, the birds suffer kidney failure and die within days. That’s why the RSPB worked with partners in India including the Bombay Natural History Society to lobby Asian governments, so that the production of the drug would be banned. Although efforts to save these vultures are far from over, when India enforced a diclofenac ban in 2006, and neighbouring countries followed suit, it was a major success for the campaign.

But the threats to the world’s precious species keep coming. The marine habitats around Britain’s coastline are increasingly under attack from development, pollution and damaging fishing methods. The RSPB’s Safeguard Our Sea Life campaign is striving to protect our marine environment. Wildlife such as sea birds, dolphins, basking sharks, sea horses and corals are in danger and the RSPB has mobilised its members to lobby the government for an effective marine bill to help save them. The magnificent albatross is a sea bird from the other side of the world that the RSPB has also campaigned hard to protect since the 1990s. Intense lobbying saw the UK sign the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels in 2004. The RSPB will continue such campaigns on behalf of birds and wildlife so that you and future generations can enjoy precious moments with nature.

The RSPB is saving species across the globe:

RSPB campaigning in the UK and abroad is helping to protect our marine wildlife, such as the dolphin, albatrosses, killed in their thousands by long-line fishing, and vultures, which are on the verge of extinction in India. Successes also include a ban on the import of wild birds such as the Lear's Macaw and opposition to the Cliffe airport development.

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