Sadly, where supposedly DOING GOOD DEEDS is concerned, there has always been FRAUD. Some people make a good living out of it! I was an "INNOCENT ABROAD" when I first visited India 36 years ago but I have become wiser since then. I have met many delightful people in the Indian sub-continent (having visited India some 20 times, Pakistan, Nepal several times, Bhutan and passed through Bangladesh). Up in the villages and mountains, the vast majority of people are honest and friendly, often genuinely concerned about the well-being of visitors. But this CANNOT be said in the towns and big cities - though much the same applies all over the world (including Britain) where one MUST be cautious and alert, otherwise one can end up tricked and cheated.
"SPINNING A LINE" is widespread where tourists and other foreigners are found - there is an assumption amongst too many in the Indian sub-continent that ALL Westerners are VERY RICH and NOT VERY BRIGHT... Some visitors are awfully gullible. Having taken an interest in locally-made handicrafts, from papier-mache to pashmina shawls, I am all to aware that FAKES are the norm. Some years ago my eldest son visited Nepal on my behalf and brought home some shawls, purchased from a Kashmiri friend of mine, who had a shop there. He wondered why, I was asking for the REAL thing as opposed to ARTIFICIAL silk or fake pashmina?!
Unfortunately, too many senior figures and those CLAIMING to be expert scientists in the UK and other Western countries are easily TAKEN IN by a proportion from amongst the educated elite in the Indian sub-continent, fluent in English, who "invent" worthwhile causes/projects, realising there is MONEY TO BE MADE out of naive Westerners willing to donate to such supposedly GOOD CAUSES....
At my lectures I often comment that many in the UK PREFER to support smaller charities, recommended by EXPERIENCED British people like myself, who after DECADES of experience are more STREET-WISE - they have greater confidence the money will be better spent! We should ALL make sure we support the GENUINE charities.
Unfortunately, it has become increasingly apparent to me that certain charities which secure support from those at the highest level of UK society - and USE senior figures to provide them with CREDIBILITY, are in fact SHAMS.... They have received LARGE amounts in financial support. Is this not scandalous? But I am RELUCTANT to approach these senior figures directly, as I am sure they would not appreciate me ENLIGHTENING them....
These figures and names have a RESPONSIBILITY to SCRUTINISE more closely what is going on, ACTUALLY READ carefully the often NONSENSICAL 'reports' these 'dodgy' charities produce - as there is precious little else the 'charities' ACTUALLY do. Ordinary people TRUST such figures. It is also high time that GENUINE experts are invited to serve on the panels which decide on awards. Just because you are e.g. a TV presenter does not make you ANY sort of expert. It is also HIGH TIME, that journalists working for our main news organisations ACTUALLY had EXPERTISE to cover IMPORTANT issues..... Or is it a deliberate policy to employ those whose only 'expertise' lies in TABLOID journalistic techniques?
My "faith/trust" in the SYSTEM in the UK has been SEVERELY damaged. I have ALWAYS conducted myself ETHICALLY - sadly MANY others do NOT....
The late Dr Walter Koelz, zoologist and plant collector in the Western Himalaya and borderlands of Western Tibet for the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA in the 1930s, felt "THAT KNOWLEDGEABLE HUMAN BEINGS OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE PLIGHT OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT - SINCE FLORA AND FAUNA WERE THE VICTIMS OF HUMAN INTERFERENCE". He left some of his money to a small college, his alma mater, but the majority went for the protection of animals and plants, through the US Nature Conservancy, as he judged it "BETTER TO LEAVE MY MONEY TO THE ANIMALS. PEOPLE WOULDN'T BENEFIT FROM IT, BUT THE ANIMALS MIGHT".
He would be distressed as to what has NOT happened in terms of the lack of proper study of plants and animals in the Western Himalaya since his botanical and ornithological surveys there more than 80 years ago, such that much of the SUPPOSED 'conservation' efforts are, I am reluctant but feel obliged to state, in fact fake with false submissions as to the CLAIMED rarities being endangered, when almost all the plant species listed as 'Critically Endangered' are no such thing! This even applies to the plant species from the Western Himalaya listed within CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) - which makes a mockery of such measures.... "Crocodile tears" are shed, whilst ever increasing 'rules, regulations and laws' are enforced, with the objective of 'protecting' Himalayan flora and flora - yet will do the opposite. I cannot but conclude that regional governments, scientists and conservationists could not actually care less about the PLIGHT OF PLANTS and ANIMALS in this part of the world, only 'pretend' to be, meanwhile international organisations stand by, seemingly unaware of what is going on. The 'real' rarities have been abandoned to their fate. Chris Chadwell recognises this and has the evidence to substantiate what he says but he is not being listened to by the "powers-that-be", who are unwilling to address the REAL issues..... IF you care, support and encourage Chris in his efforts..... Why on earth would he be "making this up"? It is not easy or comfortable to challenge powerful people and institutions....