Just over two years ago Brexit won a narrow majority in the UK. In the aftermath, Biosphere Expeditions announced it was moving its HQ to Ireland, resulting in a lively debate with 80% in favour of the move. On 1 January 2018 the move was completed. Biosphere Expeditions has also become the first Irish member of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

Dr. Matthias Hammer, founder and executive director of Biosphere Expeditions, says: “We have been welcomed with open arms in Ireland and are proud to have been Ireland’s first IUCN member, with our friends at the Irish Environmental Network following suit.”

There are also plans to conduct wildlife conservation expeditions in Ireland, “but it’s too early to reveal details”, says Hammer.

He adds that “although Brexit currently does not look good at all, ultimately the outcome and repercussions of it are unknowable and only time will tell. For Biosphere Expeditions it therefore came down to a choice of visions of the kind of world we want to operate in. Do we want to exist in a world where nationalistic interest, attitudes of ‘them and us’, suspicion and fear of the unknown – be it people or challenges – rule the day? History has told us where this leads – and besides wildlife conservation today is a global, trans-boundary issue. Or do we want to live in a world of collaboration, common visions, shared values, working towards a greater good, compassion and kindness? For me the answer was always obvious. The EU may be a behemoth in serious need of reform, but it has given us collaboration, shared values, freedom, peace and prosperity on a continent that until very recently had been at war with itself for millennia. For that alone, the EU deserves the highest praise (and its Nobel peace prize). We are glad to be staying part of that project and have not regretted our decision to move our HQ to Ireland.”

Happy New Year.

We have now flipped the switch to a new website, a new base currency (Euro), new ways to pay and a new HQ (Dublin).

Here’s an overview of changes again:

If you are an expedition participant

If your invoice is due for payment in 2018, it will be in EUR. If you joined us in 2017 with an invoice in GBP, this invoice will be reissued in EUR about two weeks before the due date. You can see the new EUR expedition contributions here. Our terms & conditions have also changed, but they are identical except for now referring to our Irish HQ and Irish law.

If you invoice Biosphere Expeditions

Nothing much should change, except that the payment will now originate from our EUR account. However, we will continue to pay you in your local currency, so you should not notice much of a change.

If you are an expedition leader

The base currency has now switched, but you can still invoice us in your local currency to be paid into your local account, so not much should change for you either.

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A big thank you to everyone who has helped to make this happen. From the outside, not much will change other than our invoices will now be in Euros, but on the inside this was all about pushing back against nationalism and isolation

In a new update to this blog, and further to the below, our new Ireland presence is now

Biosphere Expeditions, The Black Church, St Mary’s Place, Dublin D07 P4AX
Phone 00353-1-9695263, E-mail ireland@biosphere-expeditions.org

See also www.biosphere-expeditions.org/offices and www.biosphere-expeditions.org/non-profit.

We will retain our presence in the UK, Germany, France, USA and Australia as normal and no existing staff members will move to Ireland. However, the base currency will switch from GBP to EUR on 1 Jan 2018, as will the HQ from Norwich to Dublin.

Switching period

All of Q2-Q4 2017 will be the switching period of moving the HQ from the UK to Ireland. Invoices issued and due in 2017 will be issued in GBP, invoices issued in 2017 and due in 2018 will be issued in EUR. The base currency (for expeditions and everything else apart from experience days) will switch to EUR towards the end of 2017 and by 1 Jan 2018 at the latest.

If you are an expedition participant

If your invoice is due for payment in 2018, it will be in EUR, to be paid into the account in Ireland. Invoices due in 2017 will still be in GBP, to be paid into the account in the UK.

If you invoice Biosphere Expeditions

Nothing much should change, except that the payment origin will switch from the GBP to the EUR account sometime towards the end of 2017. We will continue to pay you in your local currency, so you should not notice much of a change.

If you are an expedition leader

The base currency will switch to EUR on 1 Jan 2018, but you can still invoice us in your local currency to be paid into your local account, so not much should change for you either.

29 March 2017. Theresa May has triggered Article 50, setting the UK on its path out of the EU. Biosphere Expeditions is moving its HQ from the UK to Ireland to stay in.

On 24 June 2016, within a few hours of the UK’s Brexit vote, Biosphere Expeditions’ executive director Dr. Matthias Hammer, issued a statement announcing the move, saying that it “came down to a choice of visions of the kind of world we want to live in. Do we want to exist in a world where nationalistic interest, attitudes of ‘them and us’, suspicion and fear of the unknown – be it people or challenges – rule the day? History has told us where this leads. Or do we want to live in a world of collaboration, common visions, shared values, working towards a greater good, compassion and kindness? For us the answer was always obvious.”

There were numerous and varied reactions to the statement, with about 80% in favour of the move out of the UK and 20% against.

Now, nine months later, the move is well under way. “We have set up in Dublin, opened a bank account, registered with the authorities, etc.”, says Hammer. “Of course we will still maintain a presence in the UK, but over the course of 2017 we will gradually move all HQ functions over to Ireland. Our aim is to have the Euro as our base currency and conduct most operations from Ireland from 2018 onwards”.

“Our reasons for doing this remain the same”, continues Hammer. “In wildlife conservation especially, it is important to think beyond borders – which are human creations after all – and in terms of international cooperation. Our most successful projects are those where people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities work together towards a common goal and good. One where the driving forces are not profit or greed or protectionism or the fallacy of endless growth or the fear of the foreign, but collaboration, compassion, kindness, reciprocity and the realisation that we all share this beautiful planet, of which there is only the one. So we would like to stay part of this international project that is the EU, difficult and flawed and threatened as it may be at the moment. And, as Esteban González Pons showed us in an impassioned speech in favour of the EU recently, you have to stand for some things you believe in. Otherwise you fall down easily for everything.”

Hammer concludes that he “would like to assure our partners, supporters and friends that we are committed to our existing expeditions and partnerships and will work hard to keep disruption to a minimum. We will do the same for our participants and staff. Much will happen behind the scenes, but at the front end, changes should be relatively small and we will keep everyone fully informed about them over the next months and years, as Brexit sadly unfolds.”

On 24 June 2016, a few hours after the UK’s Brexit vote, our executive director issued a Brexit statement. Over the next few hours and days, many engaged with us via social media and e-mail. An overview of responses is in section A below, in random order, but exactly replicating the ratio of supporters (80%) versus rejectors (20%). Section B is our executive director’s response of today.

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Section A – REACTIONS (examples, sometimes abridged, in random order within categories)

AGAINST (20%)

I think Matthias has seen everything through rose tinted spectacles..”collaboration, common visions, shared values, working towards a greater good, compassion and kindness?” is all about the people of Europe and not a bunch of bureaucrats..ultimately I think we may have done the rest of the EU a favour as those un-elected fat cats who run the EU will now realise that they have to change the EU otherwise we will be the first of many leavers.

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Good-bye then. Others will come in your stead.

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This is what democracy is about and as much as we may or may not like the outcome I am saddened to read this response.

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I voted Remain but now the British people have spoken I have to respect that and move on.You’re angry – yes I get that but this is a knee-jerk reaction. It seems to me you are cutting off your nose to spite your face. You are so angry that you want to move out – you mentioned Ireland – how about Germany? The fatherland is committed to the EU, you would be safer there surely.

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I’ve just had an email from some guy in your company giving me his personal views on Brexit. Why would I care?

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Very eloquently worded. The tone of the campaign has been vicious. Both sides have been guilty of lying, scaremongering and inciting hatred and it has been very derisive for the UK. Unfortunately the media focus was on immoderation without focusing on the other issues. I don’t believe people voted out because of racism or xenophobia. I believe in democracy and the EU is undemocratic. I don’t believe in centralisation but believe laws should be made at regional level. The euro will implode. Still believe we can have freedom of trade and movement without being part of the wider bureaucracy.

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This email is really unnecessary and I am not at all impressed with it. Irresperc5tive of how anyone voted this feels like Biosphere throwing its toys out of the cot. I don’t want to be involved in an immature organisation that feels the need to send such a pathetic note.

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Thankyou for your email but I have to say I am disappointed Biosphere has politicised themselves with the United Kingdom’s referendum decision. Your email says nothing about the environmental repercussions about Brexit. It seems your personal views and life history are central to your decision to move Biosphere’s operations, not the effect Brexit has on conservation.
Your email has made me question whether I want to go on the Sumatran tiger trip I have been saving up for. Biosphere should have a neutral stance on politics. Senior figures in the organisation should not be using the referendum to voice their views and change the organisation’s practice in an apparent act of revenge and defiance. I find your letter bizarre and am disappointed your personal views are affecting the organisation.

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So sorry that you have seen fit to abandon us because you seem to think that we have done something terrible by voting to leave “an undemocratic behemoth in serious need of reform” (your words). Please remember that 48% of UK voters did not vote for this. Please also remember that the relatively recent armed conflicts in Bosnia & Kosovo, where unspeakable atrocities were committed, were not dealt with by the pathetic dithering EU but by NATO and the UN who are our ultimate arbiters of peace. I hope you will continue to regard us as your friends, as we do you. The UK has not voted to leave Europe, which we love, but the EU, which we do not.

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I am struggling to respond to your e-mail.

I am a Yorkshre lass and proud of it. I support England, I support the UK, and in fact I voted to remain in the EU. You are entitled to your political opinion, and to give any press release you feel appropriate, but I am sat happily in my own garden in Yorkshre, England and I receive this e-mail from you which basically insults anyone English and forces your political opinion down my throat. I cannot get over the arrogance of this.

I am a member of Greenpeace, RSPB, 4paws, WWF and HSI all of which are concerned with conservation and/or animal welfare- some of these charities offered advise regarding the impact of in or out in the run up to this democratic vote, but none told me how to vote or made assumptions on who I voted for. It was their non judgemental information that helped me decide to vote in. It’s a pity you haven’t behaved in a similar fashion.

As I said I am not concerned by your press release, it is your opinion and you are entitled to that, but next time don’t send derogatory and judgemental emails to my home.

FOR (80%)

The decision to Leave appears to have been based on misguided self-interest, thinly veiled racism and fear of all things ‘foreign’. After everything that happened in the 20th century I find it appalling that this is what Britain has become and I am quite ashamed to be part of this country.

It feels like a terrible nightmare and one I hope we can wake up from – I know many (including myself) have signed a petition to call for a second referendum.

I just wanted to make it clear to you and others from countries in the EU and elsewhere that not everyone thinks in that way. The good core of people in the UK are welcoming and embrace people and ideas from elsewhere – it is one of the reasons I think make, or at least made, this country what it is, or sadly was.

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That’s an excellent statement. Keep up the great work you do.

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I have just read your Brexit statement and as a UK citizen I agree with everything you have written and I also am devastated and shocked by the referendum result. The vote was very close, 52% to 48% and we are now a divided nation as almost half of the population feel the same way as you and I. I understand why you want to move Biosphere from the UK, but I hope you won’t think this was a decision by the whole of the UK, or indeed the whole England, or Wales as this is most definitely not the case. I don’t know why people voted Leave. I think a lot of it was disillusionment with the establishment and feeling that they lacked a voice, so wanted to make themselves heard and protested by voting Leave, thinking this might solve their problems. It won’t. There was also a very effective campaign from the Leave politicians, while I think the Remain politicians didn’t take the threat of defeat seriously until it was too late. In the UK we will now have to live with the consequences of this decision, almost half of us disagree with which saddens me greatly.

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Why don’t you move to the most European city in Europe: Amsterdam? Good luck with everything!

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I undertook one of your expeditions to Ukraine while I was at university. I am from the UK and just want to apologise for the decision that has been made today. It is extremely worrying and a huge backwards step for the UK, the EU and the world generally. We tried our best, but obviously it was not good enough.

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Well spoken and I think the people in Great Britain will have a long lasting hangover after this decison, especially as Scotland as well as N Ireland may now seek protection under the EU umbrella, ripping apart the UK.

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Bravo. That is courageous, articulate, and shared by many on the continent. Congratulations for having the guts to change your headquarters. Hope many others follow suit.

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Welcome to Scotland! But what a shock. I really didn’t think the public would vote this way; or at least hoped they wouldn’t. How the UK has changed in such a short time.

I agree with the philosophy of creating a world of collaboration, common visions, shared values, working towards a greater good, compassion and kindness.

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How nicely said, Sir!

I just said to a colleague in the kitchen as we, in a very English style hovered near the ever boiling kettle ready for English tea, “It takes a German guy to speak proper English!”

I feel your comments are really well expressed. I feel also that I almost have to apologise to you and everyone that great leap away on the other side of the channel. What an awful morning this feels…

I am lucky to have foreign mates – be they German, French, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese and further afield from all around the world as a result of my peripatetic adventures as a teacher – I’m always amazed by how a commonality shines through – i.e. our desire as a species for fraternity, for solidarity, for kinship.

Somehow today feels that the U.K has taken a step away from this commonality. I must be careful not to be too emotional in any response as the shock of our exit is so new. Will these emotions die down? Probably, but then the intellectual upheaval remains…

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Wow. Can’t agree more. More 50% of my fellow Britons have proved themselves to be ignorant, racist, economically unaware and lacking a sense of common humanity. Really, really sad day.

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Disconsolate is the word. Suspect I’ll be moving to Belgium once my children finish their education here.

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One of the best comments about Brexit I read in the last 12 h. I hope that Europe will be able to continue with the ideas behind the European Union. And of course I hope that Great Britain does well, no matter what decision they have taken/will take in future. I assume that especially for London, Scotland and Northern Irland the yes vote for Brexit is a nightmare and might lead to break the current structure of Great Britain. But that is difficult to judge while living in Germany and getting information only by media. All the best for your organisation.

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Thanks for this statement. Very adequate reaction to the sad outcome of many years of populistic behaviour of many politicians.

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The first of many. Wildlife conservation organisation Biosphere Expeditions makes plans to shift HQ as #Brexit unfolds.

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A good, balanced and diplomatic statement. I too am shocked. Depsite all the prejudices and misunderstandings on both sides, I had not thought this possible. Unfortunately this will bring negative side effects, I am sure, to the UK and the EU. It’s a very, very sad day.

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Very well written and I couldn’t agree more or be more troubled and saddened by this appalling choice…..

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I’m too am sorry that the Brexit vote was passed. But it has happened and time to move on.

Should you decide to move your operations to my home country of Ireland, I hope you will be thoroughly happy with your decision. You can be assured that the Irish travel media will support you to every end. And I, as one of the travel media, wish you to extend you a warm welcome should that be your decision.

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Thank you for your statement. It talks from my heart.

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I and my family are totally reeling this morning. What a thoroughly depressing result that 48% of the population didn’t vote for! It was a dirty campaign which has resulted in this dangerous result!

Thanks for your interesting article.

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So sorry to hear that you are having to relocate, but totally understand! As a British citizen I am embarrassed and appalled at yesterday’s events. I too am looking to leave. I work for the Environment Agency and much of the good work we do comes from EU directives and it has been a power for good. It could be improved, but only from within. I have admired your work for any years, I wish you all the best and hope you go from strength to strength.

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As a fellow European, I agree with everything you have said and it is not either/or for me. Please dont forget that 48% of us agree with you as well!

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I suspect there will be overwhelming agreement among Biosphere expeditioners in England and Wales for your sentiments. We can only now wait for the consequences to appear and to see what deal we can get from our former partners. It’s a sad day for for the whole of the EU – and a catastrophic one for the UK.

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I do not live in England, but I can totally understand your arguments. Yes, lots of things are awry in the EU and yes, the EU is more than economics and banks. It stands for freedom, unity and peace on a shared continent. And Ireland is a beautiful country 😉

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Understood! A lot of your thoughts are shared here. If you set up an office in Scotland, you can stop by (Edinburgh) for coffee anytime.

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Choked on my brexfast this morning.. sad day.

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Thank you for your great statement.

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I really appreciated your personal essay / media note on Brexit. Articulate and personal. I felt it answered questions many in the US were asking.

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Sorry to hear you’re moving the UK operations – everyone I know is utterly shocked and saddened by the referendum result 😦

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Many Brexit-themed emails in my inbox: one of saddest is news that wonderful Biosphere Expedition now plans leaving UK, citing the moving reasons why.

I’m going to have to be apologising for the English for the next 50 years! Check the demographics – it’s mostly the over 50’s and “grey vote” that voted leave – so much for the 1960’s generation of “free love”! A terrifying lurch to the right by the UK public – My Brexit plan is to marry xxx and get a French Passport!

Again I’m so, so, sorry and I feel your pain

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It’s a disaster and it is truly shocking, especially as our largest cities were massively in favour of staying. The pensioners have sabotaged their grandchildren. Cameron should have done his research before gambling with our future this way. I am appalled at the bigotry.

Hats off to the Scots and to London, Oxford, et al who voted with big majorites to remain… if only. 48% of the population desparately unhappy is hardly a result.

You are probably the first of many to relocate. I only wish I had mixed parentage and could leave myself.

Shocking, depressing and .. words fail me. Thank you for your statement.

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Thank you Mattias for your clear statement. I am deeply ashamed and sickened by what Britain has become.

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Thanks Matthias for your clear statement. I can’t really believe it…

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Very well said … but also very sad.

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A thoughtful statement from a man I respect

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I am very shocked and dismayed by this too. I like us being part of something bigger, I like free movement of people, I like a multicultural society (it broadens everyone’s mind and helps us to understand each other – after all, under the skin and different languages, we are all the same), I like the protection afforded us against our own government having TOTAL control (big mistake!) and I just feel that this is another breaking apart of the whole world as well as Europe.

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I, also like you Matthias, studied in the UK (zoology) thanks to the financial support of the EU (I am Spanish). The news of the UK exiting has been shocking and sad. Many people are going to miss out on studying and prospering in an incredible country. Thanks for your statement.

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Even though I don’t live in the UK I still find it hard to believe that this actually happened, and I’m worried about the consequence and possible long term implications. But – if you do decide to come to Ireland, come to Galway – best place! Plus, I may even get a chance to get involved in something 🙂

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I too am embarrassed by the outcome of the referendum and fear the future isolation of Britain that seems likely. I fully agree with your views and understand your decisions.

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Thank you for sending your response to the result of the UK referendum on membership of the EU on behalf of Biosphere Expeditions.

Like you I was stunned by the result. I couldn’t believe that we were prepared to throw so much away because of the untruths that had been circulating.

Here in Scotland we voted by 62% to remain part of the EU.

I very much agree with the idea of people and nations working together for a common good which is why I voted for us to stay part of the EU.

However, what is encouraging is the very large number of others who voted to ‘Remain’. There are still some fantastic people working very hard to help make the world a better place which is why I continue to support Biosphere Expeditions. I have recently finished a series of talks based on my adventures with Biosphere Expeditions in the Altai Mountains in 2009. I was able to update on snow leopard conservation and give out information about Biosphere Expeditions.

I think it is very important to stay positive. There are plenty of others out there spreading ‘doom and gloom’ messages!

Should you decide to move to Scotland then I’m sure you will be very welcome as here we value our wildlife, environment and people.

Please carry on your great work and don’t despair as if you do that means the scaremongers will have won!

Please also get in touch if you think I can help with anything from here.

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It’s a great descision that you have made to shift the operations to Ireland and Scottland.

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Thank you for the statement. Well said. I was in disbelief when I heard the news and saddened watching it all unfold from Australia.

I understand the position you have to take for Biosphere. All the best with the move.

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What a profound, frank and well-argued statement, Matthias.

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I echo your sentiments. It is very sad but the decision has been made and I hope GB will move forward with its neighbours in a positive manner. It’s the best we can hope for.

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Understand the sentiment and fully agree with your response to this most unfortunate Brexit decision. A Nation just voted to replace the Great in their name with words like self-absorbed, racist, angry, intolerant. It is sad and regressive. Pity.

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Section B – Matthias Hammer’s response

Thank you very much for the many messages. Thank you also for the support, food for thought and challenging arguments. I really appreciate people taking the time to write in with their views. In response to the very many messages we have received (the above are just a cross-section), I would like to make the following things clear.

1. I apologise if I appeared in any way xenophobic or anti-English/British, defeatist, aggressive, derogatory, judgemental, spiteful or unkind. This is certainly not how I feel or what I wanted to convey.
2. Please allow me to reassure everyone that nobody is abandoning anyone and that my statement was not a knee-jerk reaction. I am sorry if it came across that way. We will retain an office in Norwich, but will move our HQ out of the UK. Our own exit plan was conceived over a period of weeks whilst the campaign was under way. It is as much a business case, as it is a personal conviction. Now that Brexit is a sad reality, our exit plan is simply being implemented.
3. I agree with the person from the Environment Agency who wrote in to say that the EU was a force for good as far as the environment is concerned. Indeed I believe that Brexit is very bad news for the UK environment.

Finally, over the last few days, the statement that sums it up best for me is the one by Nicholas Barrett, who wrote:

“Firstly, it was the working classes who voted to leave because they were economically disregarded and it is they who will suffer the most in the short term from the dearth of jobs and investment.

Secondly, the younger generation has lost the right to live and work in 27 other countries. We will never know the full extent of lost opportunities, friendships, marriages and experiences we will be denied. Freedom of movement was taken away by our parents, uncles and grandparents in a parting blow to a generation that was already drowning in the debts of its predecessors.

Thirdly and perhaps most significantly, we now live in a post-factual democracy. Can anybody tell me the last time a prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism has lead to anything other than bigotry?”

Regards

Dr. Matthias Hammer
Executive Director
Biosphere Expeditions

On 24 June 2016, a few hours after the UK’s Brexit vote, our executive director issued this statement:

It is with great shock and sorrow that I notice the UK’s Brexit vote this morning. Following the campaigns, I was saddened not only by the overall tone of the debate, but also by the fear mongering and the ‘them and us’ attitude evident on both sides. Although the weight of economic opinion was in favour of staying inside the EU, I could see that there were valid arguments on both sides. Ultimately the outcome and repercussions of Brexit are unknowable and only time will tell. For me it therefore came down to a choice of visions of the kind of world we want to live in. Do we want to exist in a world where nationalistic interest, attitudes of ‘them and us’, suspicion and fear of the unknown – be it people or challenges – rule the day? History has told us where this leads. Or do we want to live in a world of collaboration, common visions, shared values, working towards a greater good, compassion and kindness? For me the answer was always obvious. The EU may be an undemocratic behemoth in serious need of reform, but it has given us freedom, peace and prosperity on a continent that until very recently had been at war with itself for millennia. Yet today it is unthinkable for my children to return to a trench, just because we disagree with the French or Italians or any other European partner for that matter. For that alone, the EU deserves the highest praise (and its Nobel peace prize) and I would be prepared to give up the Deutschmark or Pound any day of the week, over and over again, for that achievement.

As a German, having grown up in a federally organised state, for me there has never been a contradiction between being Franconian, Bavarian, German and European, all at the same time. It is not the either/or questions that it seems to be for the British (or rather English and Welsh). A feeling of belonging exists on multiple levels. You can support Arsenal as well as England, Bayern Munich as well as Germany. I am very sad to see that in England and Wales it was indeed either/or, rather than both.

And if it had not been for the EU, Biosphere Expeditions would probably not exist today. After school in Germany, I came to the UK (Scotland and England) to enjoy a first-class university education in biology, something I will always be grateful to Britain for, but something that would not have happened, had it not been for (very unbureaucratic) financial support from the EU, which paid my university fees by default, simply because I was an EU citizen studying in another EU country. I was free to study, move, live, marry, have children, start an NGO and thrive anywhere on a continent of shared values and visions. I am disconsolate that the UK took a significant step away from this yesterday. But this is the decision. And nothing is as constant as change, and the root of all sorrow is the attempt to cling onto things in constant flux.

So, as far as Biosphere Expeditions is concerned, our very own exit plan is now to move operations to Ireland and/or Scotland (should the Scots indeed split from the UK and remain in the EU). We have already started this process.

I would like to assure our partners, supporters and friends that we are committed to our existing expeditions and partnerships and will work hard to keep disruption to a minimum. We will do the same for our participants and staff. Much will happen behind the scenes, but at the front end, changes should be relatively small and we will keep you fully informed about them over the next months and years, as Brexit sadly unfolds.

Regards

Dr. Matthias Hammer
Executive Director
Biosphere Expeditions