The 10th World Wilderness Congress (WILD10) will take place in Salamanca, Spain 4-10th October 2013. Steve Carver (WRi) is co-chair of the Science and Stewardship Symposium alongside Alan Watson and Zdenka Krenova. More information can be found at the congress web site (http://www.wild10.org).
Steve Carver was interviewed and took part in an edition of BBC Radio 4’s “Costing the Earth”. The programme focused on rewilding and was broadcast on Tuesday 28th August 2012.
In a first for the UK, a new map detailing Scotland’s wild areas is being published today by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). Using a method developed by WRi, a map was prouced showing the relative wildness of all of Scotland’s landscapes. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/2897/scotland_first_to_map_wild_land
The Government has published it’s response to the Lawton Report on “Making Space for Nature” (http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/biodiversity/documents/201009space-for-nature.pdf). The White Paper (http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/natural/whitepaper/) “The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature” supports Prof Lawton’s recommendation for setting up a series of 12 Ecological Restoration Zones through establishing a series of Nature Improvement Areas (NIAs) to explore the opportunities … Read more Lawton Report on “Making Space for Nature”
Jin Su Jeong (PhD student, Extremadura, Spain) is visitng WRi and CSAP for 3 months (June-August 2011) working on web GIS-enabled approaches to the location and design of rural buildings integrating spatial information and stakeholder knowledge with participatory mapping and environmental assessment.
Michael Markieta (Ryerston University International Work Experience Scholarship student, Canada) is visiting WRi for 6 weeks (May-June 2011) to work on identifying possible GIS solutions to the developing wind farm-wild land conflicts in Scotland.
WRi work on wildness mapping in Scotland reported by BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8321898.stm
WRi makes it onto the front page of the October issue of the Reporter, the staff newsletter of the University of Leeds. See http://reporter.leeds.ac.uk/544/s1.htm
The WRi is currently undertaking mapping work for the John Muir Trust to develop a reconnaissance level map of wildland in Scotland for planning and policy purposes.
Steve Carver recently attended the EU/WildEurope conference on “Wilderness and Large Natural Habitat Areas in Europe” held in Prague on 27-28th May 2009 where he presented a keynote speech on “Where is wild? Definition, pattern and opportunity in Europe”.