Rewilding projects often struggle to secure adequate, long-term funding due to mismatched public schemes, sporadic philanthropy, and restrictive carbon markets. To address the challenge, CreditNature partnered with the Scottish Government to unlock investment in functional and dynamic ecosystems. This session looks at Drumadoon, a flagship landscape on the Isle of Arran, who are transforming coastal farmland into a mosaic with temperate rainforest, wetlands and natural grazing at the heart. Drumadoon is utilising a framework of metrics, ‘NARIA’, that translates recovering natural processes into units. These have been deployed to baseline, plan and monitor their efforts and, importantly, attract investment. Attendees will hear about the step-by-step process, from early concepts to engaging corporates, for actionable insights on how to develop investment-ready projects. We’ll share a pragmatic vision for a new high-integrity nature market to bridge to funding gap and scale rewilding.
Dan works with landowners and communities to prepare investable nature restoration projects. In developing Ecosulis’ Rewilding Advisory Service and CreditNature’s Ecosystem Management Rating, Dan empowers landholders to transition to nature-based rural businesses that meet their... Read More →
Sophy combines ecological expertise with nature technology and financial innovation, harnessing technology to develop scalable solutions that advance rewilding and reverse nature’s decline.
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:30 - 11:00 GMT
Room 3The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project (SSGEP) launched in 2017 has successfully increased the population of golden eagles from 6 to around 50 birds; more than the region has seen in over 300 years. In just 6 years, 12 new territories have established and first signs of breeding activity recorded. Through established translocation protocols collecting single chicks from nests of twins alongside the novel subadult translocation methodology the southern Scottish Population is thriving. Stakeholder and community engagement has played a vital role is the success of the project. Our next goal is to support the return of golden eagles to Northern England.
Cat is CEO of the newly formed charity Restoring Upland Nature (RUN). and lead for South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project. Cat had BSc in Biological Sciences from University of Leeds and a PhD in recreation Ecology from the University of Warwick. Cat has 25 years of experience working... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:30 - 11:00 GMT
Room 1The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
How do we build a wilder future for Europe with more space for natural processes like forest regeneration, free flowing rivers, herbivory and carnivory to impact ecosystems, where people and nature can thrive? In Rewilding Europe, we focus on maximizing our impact by demonstrating rewilding across 13 countries and catalyzing further action at landscape scale throughout Europe. By integrating ecological restoration, new nature-based economies and benefits for people and innovative finance mechanisms, rewilding models offer scalable and replicable solutions that sustain ecological impact while incentivizing large-scale adoption. This session will present a set of rewilding models implemented on the ground with rewilding practitioners across a wealth of landscapes. From innovative approaches to coexistence, such as wildlife-smart communities in Central Appennines in Italy, to rewilding hunting concessions in the Velebit Mountains of Croatia, or the recovery of natural grazing dynamics through the comeback of large herbivores in the Iberian Highlands and Greater Coa Valley in Spain and Portugal, we will showcase the success of these models in restoring wilder nature and delivering long-term benefits for ecosystems and local communities.
Carolina is a rewilding practitioner with huge experience having designed, led, and raised funds for public and private conservation initiatives across the world, from South-East Asia to Central America, Africa and Europe for the last 15 years. Carolina’s passion for wildlife and... Read More →
Sophie Monsarrat is Rewilding Landscapes Manager at Rewilding Europe. With a strong research background on large terrestrial mammal ecology in South African and European landscapes, she now oversees Rewilding Europe's wildlife comeback and natural grazing programs and acts as focal... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:30 - 11:00 GMT
Room 2The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
From rewilding policy, legislation, advocacy, media awareness and science Rewilding America Now is moving the needle in creating rewilding landscapes and education in the US. Never been done before and scientifically supported we reintroduce Americas wild horses as a keystone species on public range lands and – in cooperation with federal agencies - create landscape scale rewilding habitats. Our flagship project is a combination of private land and over 70k+ acres of public grazing lands connecting Yellowstone National Park and the Central Idaho Wilderness Area. Creating a 130 + mile wildlife corridor that effectively opens up wildlife migration routes from Yellowstone to the Idaho Rockies saving tens of thousands of large herbivores and predators threatened by climatechange and habitat fragmentation. Working with native communities and traditional ecological knowledge to farmers and rotational grazing practices with wild horses enhancing more sustainable and profitable agricultural models , Rewilding America Now is doing it all. Meet The team at Rewilding America Now that is spearheading the movement to rewild in the United States.
Manda Kalimian is the Founder and president of Rewilding America Now, which for 15 years has worked to promote rewilding America’s lands supporting environmental and climate sustainability. She is the first ever Federal lands permitee of 70,000 acres working to create rewilding... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:30 - 11:30 GMT
Babbage Lecture TheatreThe David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Glow-worms are a spectacular but localised insect in Britain, with recent evidence of a decline in numbers. As a species that have inspired culture and stories for millenia, restoring them to former and new sites may not only help recover populations but enhance local connections to nature spaces. Pete will speak on his experience working with the species and how they can be champions of wilding at the local scale.
The reintroduction of beavers to Britain marks a pivotal moment in conservation, offering a rare opportunity to restore a lost mammal along with natural processes and reshape ecosystems. As nature’s engineers, beavers create wetlands, slow water flow, and increase biodiversity, driving profound landscape changes that benefit both wildlife and human communities. However, this vision of ecological restoration is contingent only if we realise them in significant numbers rather than scattered projects.
While physical mitigation techniques—such as flow devices and fencing—can address direct conflicts with human interests, the real challenge lies in overcoming social and cultural barriers to wider coexistence. Beavers have been absent from the British landscape for centuries, and their return requires not just technical solutions but also a cultural shift and wider social tolerance. Normalising their presence and activities, particularly within the conservation sector, is essential for fostering understanding and acceptance.
This talk will explore the ecological benefits of beaver-driven landscape transformation, examine the roots of resistance to their reintroduction, and propose strategies to build widespread support. By addressing societal concerns and embracing beavers as a vital part of our ecosystems, we could pave the way for a resilient, biodiverse future in Britain.
Rewilding is often seen as a transformative solution to the biodiversity crisis, yet it remains contentious, particularly when it comes to defining people's role in the process of rewilding. To explore this, we identified three ways people engage with nature in rewilding contexts: human–nature dichotomy, human–nature compromise, and human–nature mutualism. Through 51 interviews with stakeholders from two British rewilding projects, we examined how people interact with rewilding projects on the ground. The findings reveal that while these categories broadly capture people’s relationships with nature, individuals often hold multiple, sometimes conflicting perspectives. This complexity challenges traditional views of human roles in rewilding. Our research suggests that no single approach to human involvement is universally applicable in rewilding. Instead, embracing a diversity of human–nature interactions can foster more inclusive, adaptive practices that meet both human and ecological needs, supporting the growth of the global rewilding movement.
Lecturer in Environmental Management, Sheffield Hallam University
Dr. Joe Glentworth is a lecturer and researcher in Environmental Management and Environmental Science at Sheffield Hallam University. He holds a PhD from the University of Manchester, where he investigated the social and cultural dimensions of upland rewilding. His research employs... Read More →
Senior Lecturer in Environmental M'g'mnt & Ecology, University of Manchester
Dr. Anna Gilchrist is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management and Ecology at the University of Manchester, with a PhD in climate change and species range expansion. Her research focuses on the socio-ecological dynamics of landscape changes, human-nature interactions, and their... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 11:00 - 11:30 GMT
Room 1The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
UK Government has committed to national and international targets to achieve 30% nature recovery by 2030. At Rewilding Britian, we believe that this target should be for at least 30% in rewilding by 2030 – a huge increase from the 1% currently rewilding across Britain. So, how can we achieve such a step change in ambition? We will present our roadmap for achieving this huge change in approach to nature restoration. This will include addressing key questions such as: Do we have the space for 30% rewilding in Britain? How can we involve communities and young people? How do we remove the perceived risk from species reintroductions. How can we advocate for embracing change and dynamic ecosystems in such an entrenched system. We will also showcase some of the incredible rewilding projects already happening across Britain and how this is improving our knowledge of what a rewilded Britain may look like.
Sara is Rewilding Manager at Rewilding Britain, and works with landowners and land managers who are rewilding or looking to start their rewilding journey. Sara is an ecologist by background and joined the charity in 2020. She established and continues to manage the Rewilding Network... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 11:30 - 12:00 GMT
Babbage Lecture TheatreThe David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
The England Species Reintroduction Taskforce is an expert advisory panel advising Government, the conservation sector and the public to enable more and better conservation translocations. We are two years old and comprise multi-disciplinary expertise from academia, conservation NGOs and practical land managers. Conservation translocations in England are mostly unregulated, lacking strategic prioritisation and are not often seen in the broader context of their benefits to ecosystem function and nature’s recovery. Whilst the focus of ESRT is on England, we are well integrated with similar work in the other countries of the UK and have global representation on our panel through conservation translocations expertise in Oceania.
I have worked in conservation for 45 years, in both the Government and NGO sectors. My passion is for evidence-led decisions that contribute to nature’s recovery. I have led programmes on Protected Areas, species conservation and I led the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). As... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 11:30 - 12:00 GMT
Room 3The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
A discussion about the role of large herbivores in rewilding. The opportunities they offer for largescale restoration of ecosystems and the challenges in delivering those projects and the need for international co-operation.
Paul Whitfield is the Director General of the Wildwood Trust, the leading UK native species conservation charity dedicated to the protection, conservation and rewilding of British wildlife. Paul has been leading the Trust as Director General for the last 7 years, developing many partnerships... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 11:30 - 12:00 GMT
Room 2The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
From its iconic industrial heritage, Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s Lower Ouseburn Valley has developed a dynamic and rich parallel history of urban nature in the heart of the city. Today, Ouseburn is a vibrant cultural landscape, framed by the architecture of its past, layered with a diverse range of dynamic habitats where inner-city Kestrels soar, Kingfishers complement colourful art and the famous Ouseburn Mute Swans raise their families. The Wild Ouseburn project explores, documents and celebrates the species present within the valley, to help inform future management of Ouseburn’s wild spaces, and provide an inspiring platform for our local community to engage with the urban wilds that surround us. Join Wild Intrigue CIC Co-Director, Cain Scrimgeour, to hear about the successes, challenges and wildlife discovered in the first year of the project.
Cain Scrimgeour is the Co – Director of Wild Intrigue CIC, a Newcastle based social enterprise that celebrates lush wildlife, people and places in Northern England through experiences, media and projects.
Saturday January 18, 2025 11:30 - 12:00 GMT
Room 1The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Three hundred years ago Chat Moss was impenetrable wilderness, a lowland raised bog of over 36 square kilometres, situated between Liverpool and Manchester at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution. From historical maps, books and biological recordings it is possible to trace the origins of the ecosystem back to the late Holocene and chart the impact of the past 200 years of human activity, resulting in complete habitat destruction and loss of most wetland flora and fauna. Peatland restoration has been undertaken on local nature reserves since the 1980s. More resources and land have been directed at peatland restoration in recent years, driven by the imperative to preserve carbon stored in the peat and resume carbon sequestration. This process has involved multiple translocations of plant species, some now nationally scarce. The reintroduction of the large heath butterfly in 2020 was one of the major milestones in the project.
PhD student; Conservation volunteer, Manchester Metropolitan University; Lancashire Wildlife Trust
I am a long-term volunteer with Lancashire Wildlife Trust and a research student at Manchester Metropolitan University. I have been involved with peatland restoration on Chat Moss for the past eight years, working mainly on landscape restoration and plant species reintroductions on... Read More →
In this talk, Benedict, founder and director of Restore, talks through how nature restoration is now scaling across the UK. He charts the journey the UK is going on, from being one of the most nature depleted countries on Earth, to rapidly restoring large areas of land – as nature restoration becomes more profitable than extractive or intensive farming. Sharing first hand insights from rewilding estates like Castle Howard, creating a new ‘plain’ in Wiltshire and reintroducing beavers to farms, Benedict gives a unique insight into the workings of a nature restoration business – and how inspirational farmers and landowners are coming together to scale nature’s recovery. As a pragmatist, Benedict explains how finance is a critical part of nature’s recovery – and diversification is the way farming will prosper into the future. And how, without restoring nature, all farms, and farming, will ultimately fail.
Benedict Macdonald is a naturalist, conservationist, writer and producer. He has worked on series including Netflix's Emmy-award-winning series, Our Planet. Benedict’s first book, Rebirding, highlighted the need for mass-scale nature restoration across the UK. It was the winner... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 12:00 - 12:30 GMT
Babbage Lecture TheatreThe David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Large herbivores play a key role in ecosystems. However, rewilding projects in mainland Europe and the UK who want to restore large herbivores to natural landscapes face a legal system designed for traditional livestock. The Lifescape Project is working with projects and other rewilding organisations to tackle this problem. This presentation will: 1. Consider how large herbivores can be a key component of rewilding projects with a significant ecological impact; 2. Provide an overview of the legal treatment of large herbivores in rewilding in the UK and Europe (including legal regulation relating to their management, welfare, health, disease risk etc); 3. Discuss specific legal barriers to using large herbivores in rewilding (including identification rules, rules on collection of fallen stock, animal welfare rules/guidance and disease testing rules); and 4. Look at opportunities for innovation in overcoming barriers and update on Lifescape’s aspiration for a 'kept wild' legal category.
Katherine is a Rewilding Lawyer at the Lifescape Project. Katherine’s work focuses on UK rewilding law, including addressing legal barriers to rewilding with large herbivores and using legal mechanisms including conservation covenants to secure land for rewilding long-term. Katherine... Read More →
Catarina began her legal career in academia, first as a Fulbright Scholar at NYU School of Law and later as an SJD graduate from UCLA Law School, in the international legal studies field. Having worked for human rights NGOs and tech start-ups, Catarina joined the Lifescape Project... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 12:00 - 12:30 GMT
Room 3The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Wild boar have been back in the UK for over 30 years – but their return remains incomplete and contested. Unique ecosystem engineers, wild boar were driven to extinction in Britain by the 1300s. Thanks to a mix of illegal releases and escapes, breeding populations now dwell once more in several parts of Scotland and the Forest of Dean (and, possibly, elsewhere in southwest England). Nevertheless, as a species they are still functionally extinct here, and a range of environmental, social, and economic arguments have been deployed against the possibility of official reintroduction. This talk explores the current state of play for wild boar, and their future prospects – from the story of how people have learned to live with them in the Forest of Dean, to the spectre of African Swine Fever which could spell the end of their resurgence in the UK.
Chantal Lyons is a science communicator at Mindfully Wired and author of ‘Groundbreakers: The Return of Britain’s Wild Boar’, published by Bloomsbury in February 2024. ‘Groundbreakers’ was sparked by conversations with residents in the Forest of Dean where wild boar first... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 12:00 - 12:30 GMT
Room 2The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
How can we meaningfully harness the sounds of nature to build trust in rewilding practices? In this presentation, we’ll explore how bioacoustic monitoring can unlock insights into biodiversity by capturing and analysing the soundscapes of ecosystems. We will demonstrate how this approach can track changes in species diversity over time, making it a powerful tool to assess nature recovery. We will delve deeper into approaches to build trust in biodiversity measurements. Taking our lead from the precision measurement industry we hope to make biodiversity measurement as trusted as weighing out flour or taking your pulse. With a specific focus on biodiversity “measurement”, we will explore how the principle of measurement uncertainty can be applied to bioacoustic monitoring as well as the benefits to thinking about uncertainty, including: Assessing if change has really occurred Underpinning confidence in nature investment Developing new “Nature Metrics” with a focus on lower uncertainty
Dr Richard Howard and Stefan Zeeman have led research and product development since the founding of Carbon Rewild, and both have extensive experience designing bioacoustic technology conducting monitoring in the field. Dr Richard Howard is Carbon Rewild’s engineering lead. Over... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 13:30 - 14:00 GMT
Room 1The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Alice Hodgkinson explores the critical connection between human health, diet, and rewilding, addressing an often-overlooked aspect of the rewilding conversation: the rewilding of ourselves. Drawing from her experience as a medical doctor, Alice highlights how the modern food system contributes to the overwhelming burden of illness and disease and proposes how dietary changes can support both human health and environmental regeneration. This session will delve into how aligning human diets with rewilding principles can promote health, reduce disease, and complement sustainable land use practices. Alice will also draw parallels between human and animal digestive needs, exploring how resource allocation for both can align with a healthier and wilder planet. This thought-provoking talk integrates human flourishing into the ecological agenda, inspiring a holistic perspective on rewilding.
Alice Hodkinson is a GP who has become interested in how diet affects health. She has been using dietary interventions for some years, which she hopes helps people to take control of their health
Saturday January 18, 2025 13:30 - 14:00 GMT
Room 2The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
This lecture discusses how traditional nature reserves can still lead the way in creating ecologically functional and resilient landscapes. It describes how the Purbeck Heaths ‘super-NNR’ in Dorset is leading a transition in the approach to protected site conservation, by linking multiple SSSIs into a single landscape-scale reserve; finding common ground across sectors and with local communities in a vision for nature and people. Management has shifted away from conservation of target features on individual reserves towards natural process restoration at scale, creating a more complex and resilient system. Habitats are more dynamic, but in a landscape already designated for its rare wildlife, how do we know when habitat change or species decline on a particular site is OK - and when should we still intervene with conservation management? Monitoring is key to guiding this transition, from ‘species gardening’ on nature reserves to restoring ecologically functional and more resilient landscapes.
I have worked for the National Trust since 2012 as senior ecologist on the Purbeck Estate, leading the Trust’s work to build nature recovery partnerships in South Dorset and instrumental in setting up the UKs first ‘super-NNR’ in the Purbeck Heaths in 2020. I sit on the NNR... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 13:30 - 14:00 GMT
Babbage Lecture TheatreThe David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Denmark is in the process of establishing 20 Nature National Parks based on rewilding principles, aiming to restore natural ecosystems and enhance biodiversity. This talk will outline the aim, planning and implementation of these parks as well as insights into key outputs of an industrial PhD conducted during the planning phase by Marianne. Mariannes research aim to support the pratical planning and implementation of ecological restoration with large herbivores in trophic rewilding sites and outputs the talk will cover include: • A framework developed to identify where to rewild, ensuring optimal locations for successful ecological restoration. • Research on what effects can be expected, drawing from vegetation survey data and long-term studies of extensive cattle and horse grazing across Denmark, spanning up to 20 years. • Analysis of where we can expect effects from large herbivores, using GPS tracking data from eleven sites to examine their movement patterns and habitat preferences.
As a practitioner Marianne aim to bridge the gap between practical ecological site management and research. Her research aims to enable evidence based ecological restoration with focus on the potentials for trophic rewilding. Marianne works for the Danish Nature Agency and previously... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 13:30 - 14:00 GMT
Room 3The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Large herbivores have historically shaped vegetation by maintaining open areas and disturbing woody habitats. However, the large herbivores alive today represent only a fraction of those present before modern humans. The extinction of many species over the past 50,000 years, including megaherbivores (>1000 kg) before the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, likely altered vegetation structure and composition. In this session, Dr Elena Pearce will present her research into how the loss of megafauna affected Europe’s temperate forests. Using the latest vegetation reconstruction approach, she analysed pollen records from the Last Interglacial (129,000–116,000 BP), before widespread megafauna declines and human-driven landscape changes. Her findings reveal open vegetation and light woodland exceeded 50% cover, with marked spatial variation driven more by disturbance regimes—likely linked to megafauna—than climate. These results challenge the view of dense, closed-canopy temperate forests, highlighting the role of megafauna in maintaining diverse, open ecosystems and supporting Europe’s historical biodiversity.
Dr Elena Pearce is an ecologist and postdoctoral researcher specialising in rewilding and landscape recovery. Her research is focused on reconstructing past ecological reference conditions and understanding the processes that promote complex, biodiverse ecosystems. Passionate about... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 14:00 - 14:30 GMT
Room 3The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Traditional conservation has often overlooked the urban wildlife legacy of creative ecology. However, some of the UK’s most successful nature recovery have happened in unexpected places. This shift changed the definition of "derelict land" to include post-industrial nature. The work of Landlife and the National Wildflower Centre (now homed at the Eden Project) dates back to 1975. Over the years, colleagues like John Little, Peter Leeson, Polly Moseley and Fergus Garrett, have shared a parallel evolution of thought, from green roofs and estate management to new approaches to tree planting and in cultural narratives and in world class gardens. Creative conservation is about care, community, and land ethics. Aldo Leopold, a pioneer of ecological restoration, extolled a community land ethic in the 1930s. Today, we face a need for new commons—urban and rural—a journey worth sharing.
Technical Director (National Wildflower Centre), Eden Proejct
Richard has 35 years experience in creative conservation, wildflower seed production, and innovative landscape delivery and community engagement. He spent 25 years with the urban ecology charity Landlife, delivering projects such as the National Wildflower Centre in Liverpool (2000... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 14:00 - 14:30 GMT
Room 1The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Britain is one of the most ecologically depleted countries on the planet and one of the most unequally owned: an astonishing 50% of England is owned by less than 1% of its population. The rapidly growing grassroots movement Wild Card is here to change this.
Wild Card campaigns for the UK's biggest institutional landowners - such as the Church of England, the royal estates and the Oxbridge Colleges - to urgently begin rewilding their lands in response to the climate emergency. Meanwhile it pressures government to enact land reforms that would democratise land ownership and open up rewilding to all. Through groundbreaking campaigns such as Rewild the Church, which secured cross-sector support from figures like Michael Gove, Stephen Fry and Caroline Lucas, Wild Card has mobilised over 275,000 people into action for rewilding holding protests, talks and events across the country.
In this provocative talk, Wild Card co-founder Joel Scott-Halkes lifts the curtain on the powerful ancient landholders of Britain, presenting eye opening data on the scale of their holdings and the state of their land before proposing three radical but pragmatic land reforms that could make Britain wilder and fairer.
Ella will lead a panel discussion exploring how cutting-edge advancements in AI technology can significantly accelerate and enhance global rewilding efforts. We will focus on AI-driven data analysis as a transformative tool for improving monitoring, forecasting, and decision-making in rewilding and restoration projects. The panel will feature leading experts from diverse fields, such as bioacoustics for species detection, remote sensing, and machine learning-based pattern recognition, all of whom are utilising AI in innovative ways to drive impactful environmental work. Each panellist will share real-world applications of AI in their projects, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges that come with harnessing these technologies. As facilitators, Ecosulis will contribute our own experiences in integrating AI into nature recovery projects, offering insights into ongoing initiatives and sharing our ambitions for leveraging AI further to scale rewilding efforts.
Sophy combines ecological expertise with nature technology and financial innovation, harnessing technology to develop scalable solutions that advance rewilding and reverse nature’s decline.
A keen outdoor enthusiast and problem solver, Cat enjoys working with Ecologists, Charities, and NGOs in the conservation sector to demystify the rapidly developing, scalable, and auditable field of AI & Bioacoustic monitoring.
Ella is a tech-focussed and data-driven rewilder dedicated to accelerating and scaling nature recovery through innovative solutions and cutting-edge technologies.
Saturday January 18, 2025 14:00 - 14:30 GMT
Babbage Lecture TheatreThe David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
In this lecture, Harvey Tweats of Celtic Rewilding, will share the trials and tribulations of reintroducing some of Britain's most threatened wildlife. Principally, Harvey will talk about how the past can inform the species we could reintroduce and the landscapes we can rewild. From prehistoric pond terrapins to the ornate white stork, Harvey’s work has been varied. He delves into the broader restoration of ancient ecosystems, uncovering the stories of forgotten wildlife and the cutting-edge science driving their return. One key question he poses is how will climate change effect our ability to rewild, and the choice of species to reintroduce? Join him for a thought-provoking exploration of Britain’s lost creatures and the future of rewilding the UK.
Harvey Tweats is the director of Celtic Rewilding, a pioneering conservation organisation initially focused on restoring Britain’s lost amphibians and reptiles, although now the company has a much broader reach. With a deep passion for wildlife conservation, Harvey has dedicated... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 14:30 - 15:00 GMT
Babbage Lecture TheatreThe David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
As private owners rewild land and markets for biodiversity and ecosystem services are introduced, novel (and repurposed old) legal mechanisms are becoming increasingly important to ensure long-term biodiversity benefits. This presentation will: 1. Consider the increasing need to secure rewilded land for the long term and how legal mechanisms are helping/hindering to achieve this; 2. Provide case studies of how legal mechanisms are being used with reference to specific examples from Italy, Portugal and the UK; 3. Consider how European jurisdictions can learn from each other to address legal barriers and ensure private land can be protected for rewilding for future generations; and 4. Introduce innovative legal thinking able to impact how landowners and practitioners can work together to secure land for rewilding: a. The case of LS as responsible body b. The opportunities that the NRL offers to secure land for rewilding.
Catarina began her legal career in academia, first as a Fulbright Scholar at NYU School of Law and later as an SJD graduate from UCLA Law School, in the international legal studies field. Having worked for human rights NGOs and tech start-ups, Catarina joined the Lifescape Project... Read More →
Katherine is a Rewilding Lawyer at the Lifescape Project. Katherine’s work focuses on UK rewilding law, including addressing legal barriers to rewilding with large herbivores and using legal mechanisms including conservation covenants to secure land for rewilding long-term. Katherine... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 14:30 - 15:00 GMT
Room 3The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Rewilding has largely been a concept used in a terrestrial context to date. Yet, rewilding principles not only apply to our seas, they enable a new approach that embraces the interconnectivity and dynamic nature of this environment. At Rewilding Britain, we have been working with pioneering community led projects delivering marine rewilding on the ground to scale up and mainstream this approach.
What we have identified is that as an island nation, the rewilding of our seas will need to be community driven, and the decision making embracing this bottom-up approach. Diving into a few of these projects, we will showcase the diversity of approaches taken, and the incredible results already seen. Support from the conservation sector and decision makers remains critical. We will discuss how to enable this approach to spread along our coast, removing the key policy barriers and expand this vision offshore where community led action is increasingly complex.
I am coordinating the delivery of Rewilding Britain’s marine work, working with others in the sector to mainstream rewilding into marine policy and practice. I also supports the development of the Rewilding Network, helping to upscale marine rewilding across Britain.
Saturday January 18, 2025 15:00 - 15:30 GMT
Babbage Lecture TheatreThe David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
Bermuda is an archipelago of over 100 islets that faces significant threats to its biodiversity due to human activity and environmental changes. Among these islands, Nonsuch Island stands out as a cornerstone for conservation efforts, hosting rare and threatened species and habitats. It also represents one of the earliest examples of ecological restoration, with more than 60 years of ongoing efforts. This pioneering project aims to restore a portion of Bermuda’s ecosystem to its pre-colonial state, focusing on the removal of invasive species, the replanting of native and endemic flora, and the reintroduction of native and endemic fauna. Notable successes include the recovery of the Greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) and the expanding population of the Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow), or Cahow, a species once thought extinct. These milestones offer an opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned from decades of ecological restoration on Nonsuch Island. This presentation will explore the successes and challenges encountered, the technologies and methods employed, and the implications for future conservation strategies in Bermuda and beyond.
Gerardo García, born in Barcelona, began his conservation career with the Recovery Programme for the Mallorcan midwife toad. He earned a Ph.D. on the ecology and conservation of the Madagascan side-necked turtle. He led the Herpetology Department at Jersey Zoo until 2012 before becoming... Read More →
Saturday January 18, 2025 15:00 - 15:30 GMT
Room 3The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QZ
