ECOS 46 (4) UCL NATURE AND CONSERVATION SOCIETY CONFERENCE 2026
Conservation in a Connected World: It’s Challenging and Interdisciplinary Despite the somewhat ominous date and current state of the world, this year’s UCL Nature and Conservation Society mini-conference was another highly thought-provoking and convivial gathering which BANC/ECOS was very glad to support. Following successful events in 2024 and 2025, it [...]
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The Chagos: conservation catastrophe averted?
How have we come so close to allowing destruction of the best coral reef ecosystem on the planet? Why did most ‘green’ politicians and environmental organisations support, or not oppose, sovereignty transfer of this fragment of paradise1 to Mauritius? The conservation case was made eloquently, if incompletely, in the UK’s [...]
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Pigs and Rare Pollinators
Pigs showing promise for wildlife conservation Pollinators are desperately in need of assistance. With the loss of landscapes rich in flowers compounded by other threats, such as the prevalence of toxic pesticides, pollinators are struggling to perform their vital roles within the ecosystem. But help may be at hand from [...]
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Advancing theory of change models for rewilding: an ecological recovery perspective
Abstract Rewilding has emerged rapidly as a response to accelerating ecological degradation, prompting the development of theory of change (ToC) models intended to support its uptake across socially and politically contested landscapes. Existing rewilding ToCs have largely prioritised social acceptance, governance alignment, and institutional learning as primary causal drivers, reflecting [...]
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ECOS Interviews: JAMIE BUXTON-GOULD
Thoughts from influential nature conservationists… Jamie Buxton-Gould What do you do/have you done in nature conservation? I’ve been working in conservation for over 10 years: my craving to work outdoors in nature had its beginnings in volunteering with the National Trust, the Woodland Trust and the British Trust for Ornithology, [...]
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ECOS 46 (3) – Conservation and sustainability: UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum 2025 Online Conference
Conference report article JANET MACKINNON Introduction: ‘Think Global, Act Local’ The full title of this highly immersive online gathering was ‘UKOTCF’s 7th conference on conservation and sustainability in UK Overseas Territories, Crown Dependencies and other small island entities’. This territorial portfolio is of great environmental and geo-political significance, representing some [...]
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ECOCIDE IN UKRAINE
The Environmental Cost of Russia’s War Darya Tsymbalyuk Polity, 2025, 188 pages Paperback £14.99 | ISBN 978-1-509-56250-3 Review by Janet Mackinnon This book offers an urgent reminder of the profound impact of modern technological warfare on the natural and built environments. In the three and a half years since the [...]
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ECOS Interviews: STEVE CARVER
Thoughts from influential nature conservationists… Steve Carver Who are you and what have you done in nature conservation? My name is Steve Carver and I’m Professor of Rewilding and Wilderness Science in the School of Geography, University of Leeds where I’ve worked the last 30 odd years. It’s a long [...]
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OUTRAGE
Ian Nairn Notting Hill Editions, Reissue 2025, 192 pages Hardback £16.99 | ISBN 9781912559633 Review by Janet Mackinnon “It is an outrage on posterity to misuse a single yard of land…the outrage has been more than sufficiently perpetrated already.” George Stapledon, The Land Now and Tomorrow (1935/44) In 1954, Ian [...]
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WILD GALLOWAY
From the hilltops to the Solway, a portrait of a glen Ian Carter Whittles Publishing, 2025, 206 pages Paperback £17.99 | ISBN 978-184995-597-4 Review by Barry Larking My first real experience of any sort of wildness as this island knows, was in the mid 70s when I spent a weekend [...]
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A new Silent Spring?
Good news and bad news Neonicotinoids (neonics) have been in the news again, with for once some good news. These chemicals are harmful to the environment in many ways, for example polluting watercourses and killing aquatic insects (see below) but they are particularly dangerous for bees. Small amounts of neonics [...]
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ECOS 46 (2) – UCL Nature & Conservation Society Conference 2025 – Challenging perspectives on contexts for conservation
Conference report article JANET MACKINNON The British Association of Nature Conservationists and ECOS welcomed another opportunity to support the annual UCL Nature & Conservation Society Conference and very much look forward to future collaborations. Although the event adopted the title of a 2020 book in part based on the concept [...]
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