Jonathan Porritt cuts green groups down to size

Jonathan Porritt in a scathing article on his blog has accused the environmental movement of collectively betraying the public by not supporting the grassroots campaign to stop the forestry sell off. Strong words indeed coming from the former head of Friends of the Earth (whose former employer also does not escape his wrath). In a withering assessment of each he comes to the conclusion that they are either too concerned about their relationship with the Department of the Environment to criticise the sell off or they hope to gain from it. But is he right?

When it comes to criticising the Tory led government the environmental movement have not exactly had the courage of their convictions. Porritt on the other hand is now a free agent after the government cut the Sustainable Development Commission. But to be fair to most of the environmental groups they are in a very difficult position. I wrote a piece for the Guardian last year on how the proposed cuts to the Department of the Environment had split the environmental movement who in their efforts to safeguard some parts of the environmental budget had pointed the finger at others. Its worth quoting part of it again here.

But, clearly aware of the current political climate, they have also felt the need to propose cuts to the wider environment as part of a response entitled “Informing Defra spending decisions”. Under the umbrella organisation, Wildlife and Countryside Link, they state that “efficiencies” can be found in a variety of areas including the rural development programme for England, the public forestry estate, fisheries and what they describe as the “architecture of government including Defra’s agencies”.

Perhaps this is the real reason for their lack of criticism of the forestry sell off?