The latest map of raptor persecution in Scotland (the “map of shame”) has been published by PAW Scotland as reported by Bib McMillan and Calum Brown of the Scottish Wild Land Group in the latest edition of Wild Land News and followed up by the blog site of Raptor Persecution Scotland.
Alan Watson Featherstone, Executive Director of Trees for Life has been awarded the Glenfiddich “Spirit of Scotland” award (environment category) for his outstanding and long-term commitment to re-instating the Caledonian Forest. See the Trees for Life web pages for more details. Well done Alan and all those at Trees for Life on a well deserved … Read more
Steve Carver and Alan Watson attended the Wilderness Seminar in Potsdam, Germany organised Stiftung Naturlandschaften Brandenburg on 5-8th November 2012. The aim of the event was to bring together wilderness practitioners to share experiences and advise developing policy in Germany. The seminar was attended by 25+ people and included field visits to the Jüterbog and … Read more
The EEA has published a new report on Protected Areas in Europe (EEA Report No 5/2012). WRi policy and mapping work has been used to underpin this in respect to wilderness quality (see pages 34-35).
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
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.