The Wild Guardianship Charter

My friend and wild bee researcher Jenny Cullinan of Ujubee, penned The Wild Bee Guardianship Charter as part of her Vision for The Wild Bee Reserve. Her words characterize what, to my mind, ought to be the way we regard and interact with all wild spaces, wild beings and the elements/climates of this earth. With her permission, I’ve adapted her charter to the broader wild world. See Jenny’s original Charter here.

THE WILD GUARDIANSHIP CHARTER

Honouring right relation with the wild

The Understanding

Wild ones do not belong to the land we claim, nor to the systems we build.

They belong to the living fabric of Earth itself.

Long before human ownership, agriculture, conservation frameworks, or scientific institutions existed, wild ones were already here — maintaining relationships between their entire ecological communities.

Their lives are not services.
Their presence is not conditional.
Their value does not arise from usefulness to humans.

Wild ones exist as autonomous participants in the living world. Guardianship begins with recognising this truth.

Recognition of Wild Being Autonomy 

Wild ones are free-living beings who:

• Choose their own nesting places
  • Regulate their own life cycles
  • Maintain ancient ecological relationships beyond human perception
  • Exist within complex webs of interdependence with plants, other living beings, and climate systems

They are not resources.
They are not research material.
They are not units of ecosystem service.

They are sovereign participants in Earth’s living systems.

The Meaning of Guardianship

Guardianship does not mean management, control, or intervention.

It means standing in right relationship.

To act as a guardian is to:

• Protect the conditions that allow wild ones to live undisturbed
  • Refrain from actions that cause harm, disruption, or extraction
  • Recognise that humans are participants within the landscape — not its owners in any ecological sense

Guardianship is therefore not an act of authority.

It is an act of humility.

Shared Ethical Commitments

Where this charter is embraced, there is a shared understanding that:

• Wild ones and their homes will not be intentionally destroyed, disturbed, or altered
  • Wild ones will not be collected, killed, relocated, or subjected to invasive scientific study
  • Land practices will seek to avoid harm to wild ones
  • Human activity will respect the right of wild ones to exist free from exploitation

Our role within this relationship is not management, but ethical presence:

• Observing non-invasively
  • Bearing witness to the lives of wild ones
  • Offering ecological insight where it supports coexistence
  • Upholding the principle that wild beings are not here for human use

A Living Relationship

This charter is not a legal contract.

It is a statement of shared ethical understanding between humans who recognise that:

• Wild beings do not need to earn protection.
• They already belong.
• Guardianship is an ongoing relationship grounded in trust, respect, and the commitment to protect life for its own sake.

Closing Statement

To enter into guardianship is to accept a simple truth:

• We do not save wild ones.
• We choose to stop harming them.
• And in doing so, we restore our place within the living world.