RSPB Conservation Chief to Speak at NGO AGM

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The conservation chief at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is to make the keynote address at the NGO AGM this spring.

The landmark speech by the RSPB Conservation Director Martin Harper will give gamekeepers a unique opportunity to hear at first-hand exactly how the RSPB views their profession.

Mr Harper will take the podium during the NGO 17th Annual General Meeting at JCB World Headquarters, Rocester, Staffordshire ST14 5LS on Wednesday 16 April 2014.

Martin Harper has been Conservation Director at the RSPB since 2011. He began at the RSPB as Head of Government Affairs in 2004, before becoming its Head of Sustainable Development in 2006. He studied Biological Sciences at Oxford and Conservation at University College London, working at Wildlife and Countryside Link before spending five years as Conservation Director at Plantlife.

The RSPB's Conservation Director, Martin Harper, said: "I'm honoured to be invited to deliver the keynote address at the National Gamekeepers' Organisation AGM. Gamekeepers manage large areas of our countryside, including some of our most important landscapes for wildlife.

"There are potentially exciting opportunities to maximise the benefits of this work and we're eager to work with the industry to end environmentally damaging practices. Nature is in crisis and we all need to work together to help address this. This will be a great opportunity to debate what role gamekeepers can play in improving nature's fortunes."

Lindsay Waddell, the Chairman of the National Gamekeepers' Organisation, said: "It is a great pleasure to have Mr Harper as our guest at the AGM. I'd like to extend to him a warm welcome. I am greatly looking forward to hearing his address on the RSPB's position regarding shooting and conservation and its stance on the environmental work done by gamekeepers across England and Wales."

Mr Waddell added: "Make no mistake, Mr Harper's landmark speech will break new ground for us. It will be the first time the RSPB has engaged directly with the NGO's membership at a national level. I hope for a constructive discussion on how game management and the RSPB can work more harmoniously for the good of our countryside and its wildlife."

The NGO Annual General Meeting at JCB World Headquarters is only open to members of the NGO. Prior booking is essential. Details of how NGO members can reserve a place will be circulated with the Spring issue of the NGO magazine, Keeping the balance.

The National Gamekeepers' Organisation would like to thank JCB for its generous sponsorship.

Notes to Editors