“SHAPING the future of land, policy, nature, and communities” is on the table as a major rewilding conference comes to Perth this year.
The Big Picture Conference, hosted by rewilding charity Scotland: The Big Picture, will discuss questions of policy integration, green economics and community wealth building.
This comes against a backdrop of increased calls to improve rewilding initiatives and restore native lynx and wildcats to natural habitats.
Rewilding projects in Scotland include the Saving Wildcats initiative, which has just seen its third consecutive successful year of wild kitten births in the Cairngorms National Park.
Activists are also calling for the reintroduction of the lynx to Scotland, supported by 61% of Scots according to a 2025 poll.
However, this campaign faced an unexpected roadblock after the illegal release of four lynx into the Cairngorms in January 2025, leading First Minister John Swinney to rule out the return of the animal.
This has been particularly contentious amongst livestock owners, who have raised concerns in consultations around sheep being attacked. Rewilding experts have not refuted this, but emphasize that we need to figure out how to coexist with these native species.
This year's event will focus on the themes of “Rewilding with people and place” and “Coexistence in rewilded landscapes”.
The biennial conference was launched in 2019 to bring together a variety of voices such as land managers, rewilding practitioners, community groups, policymakers, researchers, students, businesses, and nature enthusiasts.
The charity's CEO Lisa Chilton said: “Our Big Picture Conference is Scotland's leading gathering that focuses on rewilding in practice, bringing together the people shaping the future of land, policy, nature and communities.”
“With a host of fantastic speakers delivering inspiring presentations and learning opportunities, attendees will leave better informed, better connected, moved and more confident to take action in their own spaces.”
Speakers include wildlife presenter and zoologist Megan McCubbin and author and science communicator Chantal Lyons.
