Ian Convery is Professor of Environment & Society at the University of Cumbria, where he leads on the Back on our Map (BOOM) multi-species reintroduction project. He is also Director of the Lifescape Project conservation NGO.
Ian has spent the last 25 years working on understanding societal interactions with, connections to, and perceptions of, the ‘natural world’. His current interests are focused on public engagement with species reintroductions and rewilding, and he is the PI on the HLF funded ‘Back on our Map’ (BOOM) multi-species reintroduction project in South Cumbria. He established and co-chairs the IUCN CEM Rewilding Thematic Group and has been a member of the IUCN World Commission for Protected Areas since 2016. Ian is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is a Director of the Lifescapes Project conservation charity, which owns and manages the Natural Capital Laboratory in collaboration with AECOM. He has worked in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ethiopia, G
What would rewilding mean for a country like the UK? Bringing back wolves and bears? Returning the land to how it looked in prehistoric times? How will people fit into this wild and unimaginably different place? Questions like these abound whenever rewilding is in the news.
In essence, rewilding involves giving more space and time to nature. Instead of managing ecosystems to preserve particular species, rewilding is intended to reverse environmental decline by letting nature become more self-willed. That means allowing wildlife the freedom to flourish and habitats to regenerate naturally.
But without clear principles to guide these processes, rewilding has become a trendy buzzword that is often used indiscriminately. This has invited wildly different interpretations, sparked debates and caused controversy that has discouraged governments from developing it into policy.