Decision not to focus on reintroduction of species to UK ‘absurd’ | UK News

Experts have criticised the government after it revealed it will not prioritise the reintroduction of species to the UK.

The decision not to focus on rewilding animals that once thrived in the UK but have now disappeared has been described as ‘environmentally naive’ and ‘absurd’.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Efra) had listened to advice from scientists, farmers, conservationists and government officials over a number of months before recommending ministers publish a list of priority species for reintroduction and create an online hub with advice and best practices.

In its response, the government said it will not create such a list ‘given that reintroduction is not a priority’, and said it prefers to focus on habitats.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: ‘Our priority in achieving our ambitious targets on biodiversity is our focus on habitat restoration and creation, and improved connectivity of biodiversity corridors to tackle pressures on species including pollution, unsustainable use of resources and climate change, with targeted action to recover specific species.’

Director of Rewilding Britain Professor Alastair Driver, who gave evidence to the committee, said the government’s approach is ‘environmentally naive’ and ‘illiterate’ and that the Secretary of State for Defra Therese Coffey is not interested in the natural environment.

He said: ‘To say it’s not a priority is absurd. It is a priority. That’s why all this dedicated time was put into it for the last couple of years.

‘The government will not achieve its nature recovery targets without species reintroductions being part of that. It’s an essential piece of the jigsaw.”

Beavers, bison, dormice, wild cats and water voles are just some of the species that have been reintroduced in Britain this year.

After centuries of industrialisation, expansion of agriculture and persecution, the UK has one of the most decimated populations of wildlife anywhere in the world, according to the Natural History Museum.

Wolves, lynx and eagles have long since disappeared along with the critical role they play in ecosystems, leading land managers to actively hunt animals like deer to stop them from overpopulating.

Prof Driver said reintroductions of larger, more charismatic creatures help spark the imagination of nature recovery in the public and that without a plan, even those land owners opposed to reintroductions may see it happen anyway but without regulation.

‘In the absence of a clear strategy and plan, there are risks around it happening in an unauthorised and undesirable way,’ he said.

‘It’s far more important to have a plan and a strategy with clear guidance than it is to just bury our heads in the sand and hope it’ll go away because it won’t.’

Sir Robert Goodwill, the committee’s chairman, said it was ‘concerning’ the government do not have a plan on species reintroduction and ‘disappointing’ it did not respond positively to the report.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.