London wants to become a ‘national park city’ – is that a contradiction in terms?
This article was originally published in The Conversation on 24 July 2018. Header image via shutterstock The movement to declare London a national park city in 2019 is gaining momentum. Mayor Sadiq Khan recently launched National Park City Week, along with a series of outdoor activities to kick off the school holidays. Citizen groups and
Wild meat: rewilding and hunting
This article was published in Geographical Magazine on 15 June 2017 The idea of rewilding boar into the UK’s landscapes is gaining plenty of traction, but if we truly want them back we’ll need to consider hunting them as well. Cycling through the Forest of Dean, my daughter and I encountered a sign instructing
Shooting for the Earth: Malta opti-hunt 2025
In 2012 I was invited by Cerry Levy to visit Malta with a group of artists seeking to offer new thinking on the campaign to stop springtime hunting on Matla. Below is my contribution - an imaginary article in published in online newspaper in 2025. It offers a vision of a future Europe where opti-hunting is
Living landscapes as new natural assets
Good morning all, and thanks for the invitation to present today. Gary asked me to present some thoughts on new paradigms for conservation. My aim is to do just this. I will argue that we need to seize the opportunity of Brexit to reframe how we think and talk about rural lands. Brexit is a
David Novillo: conservation entrepreneur and innovator
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
Rewilding: why now?
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
Investing in Tamarin landscapes: an asset-based vision
By Paul Jepson, Richard J. Ladle and Susanne F. Schmitt. Photo; Richard J. Ladle When we were started out in conservation in the 1980s the Golden Lion Tamarin (hereafter GLT) was the poster child for species conservation. The species is restricted to the Atlantic rainforests of southeast Brazil (Rio de Janeiro State) and in
Tres Picos State Park: utilizing transport infrastructure assets to generate value
Ten years ago Rio State invested in the creation of a portfolio of state parks. Over Easter we visited Tres Picos, located 100k m outside Rio de Janerio, to field test our protected area asset framework. The biophysical assets associated with Tres Picos are outstanding: scenic rock massifs rise out of rainforest clad mountains which
To regain ground and confidence nature conservation needs policies that support rewilding
Originally published by Rewilding Britain, 7 June 2016 Paul Jepson makes the case for an enabling policy space for rewilding as a new and complementary conservation approach in Europe Rewilding is the biggest, most exciting idea to emerge in conservation since the 1970s. The challenge now is to create the spaces within conservation policy and