In brief

“If we are to be ambitious, and make the case for conserving the world’s birds and other wildlife, the debate about low-carbon birding and what constitutes sustainable ecotourism will need to become a mainstream agenda.” – Mike Clarke, former RSPB’s CEO

“as conservationists we could do a great deal more to reduce our footprint. We think that trying to lead by example is key to encouraging and sustaining fundamental society-wide changes in behaviour. ” – Andrew Balmford & colleagues, University of Cambridge

“This is not the end of travel, but we are going to have to change how we do it, how far we go, for how long and for how often. I think we are entering an era of far fewer, perhaps longer trips, with many more of them taken closer to home or overland.” – Ed Gillespie

“To many young birders the most inspiring stories are not about long-distance trips to see a rare bird but about those miraculous local finds and those unexpected or just delightful bird behaviours, demonstrating how even the most unlikely places can afford very pleasant experiences.” – Joe Parham, Keir Chauhan and Finley Hutchinson – Low-Carbon Young Birders

“To identify and investigate the fly-lines, roosts, breeding numbers, migration hot-spots, viz-mig corridors, scarcities, rarities, behavioural observations, e-bird lists, BirdTrack lists, just for the sheer pleasure and joy of it…. all reasons to adopt the low-carbon birding ethos.” – Steve Gale