The future looks wild
Letting natural processes take over parts of Britain’s landscape, such as woodland reclaiming parts of the Yorkshire Moors, could help address issues including flooding and climate change.
A new group of experts at Leeds will look at ways of letting nature take back areas of countryside, including the reintroduction of
native species, and to help inform decisions on land use. The Wildland Research Institute (WRi) will be launched during Wild Week (19-24 October).
Existing approaches to conserving habitats for particular species and engineering defences for flood prevention will not be sustainable as demand for land increases and the climate changes. Institute director Dr Steve Carver explains the Institute’s purpose: “We want to provide the best possible scientific evidence base for decisions about land use on a landscape scale.”
Landscapes where nature takes its own course, like the remoter parts of the Cairngorms, North Pennines and Cambrian Mountains, may be more resilient to problems like flooding and habitat loss than managed areas such as the Yorkshire Moors.
Leaving natural processes to take over is being tried. Dr Carver says: “Following major floods in The Netherlands it was concluded
that the rivers were too restricted so they pulled back from the edge of the flood plain, broke dykes and paid people to move. The new wider floodplain gives somewhere for the river water to go during flood events and creates a wild, wetland landscape for people and wildlife.”
Decisions over locations for renewable energy sources or house building on flood plains could be informed by the Institute’s work. Dr Carver knows the issues involved are complex, particularly when changes to an area could put plants or animal species under pressure: “It is both an ethical and practical question about whether we allow natural processes to shape our land or whether we micromanage environments. Climate change is also a factor – we can’t halt it so we need to adapt to it, create more resilient landscapes that give nature room to shift and respond.”
The group is based in Geography and brings together experts from biological sciences, law, earth and environment. The value of natural landscapes in our culture is also recognised and colleagues from performance and cultural industries are also involved: “Natural landscapes have been the inspiration behind the literary works of poets like Byron and Wordsworth and paintings by artists such as Landseer and Turner. More recently, photographers like Joe Cornish, Colin Prior and Pete Cairns and Mark Hamblin of Tooth and Claw are doing their bit to help us better appreciate wild nature,” says Dr Carver.
All are welcome to join Wild Week. A public lecture and debate with naturalist awardwinning writer Jay Griffiths and naturalist Roy Dennis will be held on the evening of 21 October. An exhibition of wildlife photographs by Tooth and Claw will be held in the Parkinson Court and the School of Performance and Cultural Industries will perform the new drama The last wolf in Scotland. Over 50 experts from national and international conservation bodies will meet with academics during the week to discuss the Institute’s focus and identify the top research questions that we will need answers to over the next 10 years.
More about WRi and Wild Week is available at www.wildlandresearch.org or email wildlandresearch@leeds.ac.uk
