Welcome to BANC

**STOP PRESS**

The 2012 BANC AGM and away day will be on Saturday 10th November. More details are available here.

**  **

Who are BANC?

We are an independent organisation which takes a critical look at the world of nature conservation. We analyse what’s going on, debate the values behind conservation policies and legislation, and we put new ideas on the agenda. We are not a corporate body: we are a network of conservation practitioners, academics and interested individuals. We simply focus our members’ views, giving them a platform for ‘challenging conservation’.

Many matters concerning the natural environment and its conservation are controversial. We tackle the thorny issues, questioning dogma where it exists. So, for example, we discuss attitudes towards alien species, we examine the impacts of renewable energy sources, and we challenge target-obsessed approaches to conservation. We stress conservation’s social, economic and political dimensions, because these are where conservation policies meet the real world.

We run workshops and conferences, commission books and reports, and publish the respected journal, ECOS.

History

BANC and ECOS were born out of the masters degree in Conservation at University College London (UCL) by committed volunteers, keen to raise the profile of the environment to new audiences in political, social and economic circles. From these informal beginnings, BANC became a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee in 1987.

Leading conservationists welcomed the energy and enterprise that brought BANC into being. The RSPB’s Director, Ian Prest, was among the early supporters and became a Vice-President, as did Norman Moore, the Nature Conservancy Council’s Chief Advisory Officer. Max Nicholson was interviewed for a notable article in the first edition of ECOS. As the first organisation to link the conservation of nature to politics, social issues and economics before the mainstreaming of environmental concerns, BANC’s advent was widely welcomed.

Personnel

President
John Bowers

Retired Reader in Applied Economics at the University of Leeds, specialising in environmental and agricultural policy, John also campaigns to protect the natural environment of the Aegean island of Lesbos.

Vice President
Professor Adrian Phillips CBE

An expert in countryside planning and conservation policy, Adrian’s career has included inter alia more than ten years as head of the Countryside Commission and a six-year stint as chair of the IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas.

Vice President
Marion Shoard

An author and campaigner, Marion’s works include the ground-breaking Theft of the Countryside, This Land is Our Land and A Right to Roam.

BANC Council

BANC is a UK-registered charity, governed by a Council of elected (and, exceptionally, co-opted) members. Elections are held annually at the Annual General Meeting. All BANC members are entitled to stand for office and Council and to vote. An annual report and independently-audited accounts are submitted to the Commissioner for Charities.

Officers

Chair – Gavin Saunders
Secretary – Ruth Boogert
Treasurer – Jeremy Owen

Other Council Members

Emily Adams
Lisa Schneidau
Matthew Frith
Peter Taylor