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Abstract
Species reintroductions are growing in popularity, and example motivations include supporting species populations or the restoration of ecosystem function. Interactions between humans and the reintroduced species are likely to occur post-reintroduction. Coexistence between humans and wildlife is adaptive and dynamic, in part requiring management of conflicts between humans and wildlife, or of conflicts between humans over wildlife management. We seek to learn from the experiences of steering group members in a Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) project in England and identify how governance of coexistence with reintroduced species may differ from the governance of coexistence with species that are already present in the landscape. Using a qualitative thematic analysis of an online survey, we identify a series of lessons in six key areas: (1) project governance, (2) stakeholder engagement, (3) research and monitoring programme, (4) strategy to manage arising conflicts, (5) public engagement, and (6) broad perspectives on reintroduction trials. We advocate for reflective evaluation as an essential component of reintroduction projects to enable knowledge-sharing from experiences, leading to improved practices in the future. Reflecting on our analysis, we identify and define ‘Renewed Coexistence’—a new term that draws on pre-existing coexistence knowledge but identifies the unique elements that relate to governing coexistence with reintroduced species.
Highlights
Coexistence between humans and wildlife ‘entails the behaviour of living together’ (Frank 2015)
We aim to identify key factors that are informative for future reintroduction processes, discuss governance and stakeholder involvement in the context of reintroduction, and to identify what the implications of this may be for governing coexistence with reintroduced species compared to governing coexistence with a species that is already present in the landscape
We undertook a reflective evaluation of the River Otter Beaver Trial (ROBT) with key informants and suggest the points made under the identified themes will prove informative in future reintroduction projects—for practitioners, stakeholders, and researchers alike
Summary
Coexistence between humans and wildlife ‘entails the behaviour of living together’ (Frank 2015). It is defined as adaptive and dynamic, but sustainable (Carter and Linnell 2016; König et al 2020). Wildlife reintroduction is the process of returning a species to an area where it was previously present but is extinct (Seddon et al 2007). It is a concept in conservation and ecological restoration that is growing in popularity (Corlett 2016). This is often associated with keystone species (which have disproportionately large effects on ecological community functioning (Hale and Koprowski 2018)) or ecosystem
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