Conservationists voice disappointment after DEFRA announces species reintroductions are not a priority for the Government

Defra also said it would not be producing a strategy or a list of priority species for reintroduction and referred instead to the Government’s Code for Reintroductions, adding that the Government aims to reach its biodiversity targets through other methods, such as habitat restoration and biodiversity corridors.  

The news comes as a blow to conservationists in Kent who gave evidence at the Defra inquiry on species reintroductions. Kent Wildlife Trust have been working to reintroduce keystone species into the county for decades. The Trust was the first organisation to reintroduce beavers to Ham Fen, Sandwich in 2002 and worked with partners Wildwood Trust to bring back bison to the UK in the ground-breaking Wilder Blean project.

Kent Wildlife Trust’s Director of Conservation, Paul Hadaway said: "Once again we see a lack of real ambition around the restoration of nature which completely ignores the value of keystone species in driving the Government's own 30 by 30 ambition.  

“Many of the species which could and should be considered for reintroductions are vital to creating climate resilient, nature-rich landscapes. As has been shown in the case of beavers across the UK, many of the perceived threats associated with reintroductions can be overcome through collaboration and a focus on co-existence approaches such as those championed by Kent Wildlife Trust through the East Kent Beaver Advisory Group.  

“Many of these species have returned naturally across Europe with minimal negative impacts and significant boosts for wildlife and people, not least in countries such as the Netherlands where land-sparing and landscape defragmentation strategies have been implemented at a national and regional scale - demonstrating a breadth of ambition and realistic opportunity that this Government and Defra seem unable or unwilling to grasp.