Nature recovery in Wales has been a high priority for Welsh government in alignment with the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. Alongside many farmers, conservation groups, charities, NGOs, councils, local community groups and individual property owners are actively engaged in improving the places that are important to them. Yet a recent report from the Welsh Parliament’s Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee found that there has been a lack of planning, action and funding to make a coordinated impact on halting and reversing biodiversity loss in Wales.
We interviewed stakeholders involved in nature recovery in Wales in 2023/24, beginning with a focus on rewilding and then broadening the scope to nature recovery in general. We learned from stakeholders about the barriers and enablers for implementing nature recovery activities in Wales, across a broad spectrum of ecological restoration approaches, landscape types, ecosystems and property types.
In this session we will share key findings and explore some sense-making tools to help stakeholders understand the natural, social, cultural and policy dynamics of the places they want to improve or restore. We propose, that deep multi-dimensional knowledge of the places we seek to improve, is essential for designing the most beneficial place-based nature recovery engagement and practices.
Dr Isabel Sebastian is a Marie Curie Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s School of Geography and Planning. Her current research as part of the Regenerative Place project focuses on sustainable place-making, biocultural diversity, regenerative land practices, environmental policy and the discourses and worldviews that influence how effective and beneficial regenerative land practices can be. One of three case studies of the project is focused on nature recovery approaches in Wales. Isabel has a PhD in Sustainable Futures from the University of Technology Sydney and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Environmental Management. Prior to academia, she had a 20-year career in nature-based tourism, visitor management in protected areas and sustainable development.