David Novillo opened his presentation to my Masters students with the words “Do today what you want to happen tomorrow” Using an engaging mix of stories, facts and mine he went on to describe with humour, candour and humility his work to restore the marine ecosystems in the municipality of Adeje, Tenerife. But David is
On 19 April Rewilding Europe celebrated its 5th anniversary with a special gathering in Amsterdam called Wild Ways. The event included dialogue, a 'rewilding' market, previews of film projects, music by Lex Empress and two talks, one by Rewilding Europe MD Frans Schepers and one by myself. Here is the text of my talk. Good evening
Each March I take my MSc students on a field trip to Tenerife and each year I ponder on why more is not made of the canary in the island’s tourism promotion, tours and branding. This year the first canary I encountered was whilst eating breakfast in the Albergue de Bolico hostel. One alighted on a
This is the text of a presentation I made at the #Conservation2037 event at the Linnean Society of London in 26 Jan 2017. I hope you enjoy the ideas. In 1977 Kraftwerk embraced the affordances of emerging technologies to expand the range and repertoire of musical possibilities. Their innovative electronic music inspired new genres of
On a Saturday afternoon in late November I went for a walk along Iffley meadows in Oxford. The gate to the BBOWT meadow was hung with a sign telling the story of a cow that had gotten stuck in a ditch and was pulled out with a neck rope. Those entering the field were asked
The WWF’s new Living Planet report highlights a 58% decline in the abundance of 3,706 animal species since 1970, reinforcing the fear that humanity is bringing about a sixth mass extinction. The roots of this fear stretch back more than a century, when a series of well-publicised extinctions provided incontrovertible evidence that human actions could
A slightly edited version of this article was publish by Geographical Magazine on 26 Oct 2016. It was a bit of a hit and its nice to know that so many people are interested to read about birdwatching. The face of British bird watching is undergoing a transformation: in the last decade telescope carrying birders
Photo: Paul Jepson This is the text of a lecture I delivered in the Valuing Nature Keynote lecture series in London on 22 September 2016 ---------------------------------------------------- Helen Meach, CEO of Rewilding Britain started a recent article in Ecos with the statement: “Britain is one of the most ecologically depleted nations on Earth”. Given
To coincide with the Rio Olympics we have posted a short series of blogs to reflect on and discuss the future of Rio State's fabulous state parks. Photo: Susanne F. Schmitt Nature, wildlife and parks are central to Rio's identity internationally and within Brazil: the iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer watches over
In the last 30 years Brazil has significantly expanded its network of protected areas (PAs) : nowadays over 17% of terrestrial land and inland waters and 1.5% of coastal and marine areas are protected. The Brazilian protected area system is the largest in the world. Brazil is recognised internationally for its leadership in biodiversity conservation
