May 2015

Restoration for people and places

This is the title of a symposium to be held at the forthcoming Society for Ecological Restoration world conference in Manchester during the last week in August 2015. The Symposium, on Monday 24th August, is dedicated to the memory of Professor Tony Bradshaw, who almost single-handedly established the science of land reclamation in Britain. With colleagues from the British Land Reclamation Society (BLRS) Andy Moffat has helped shape this event and will be delivering one of four presentations at it: ‘ Urban and post-industrial treescapes for the 21st Century – towards a pragmatic application of restoration ecological theory’. Following Tony Bradshaw’s teachings, the symposium will explore how ecological principles can be better accommodated with other societal-led restoration outcomes to create anthropogenic systems designed for 21st Century living. At least 50% of the symposium will be interactive, with group work to determine how future policy, practice and research agendas can best integrate ecological and society needs for brownfield land. The draft programme has just been published (http://www.ser2015.org/outline-programme).