Parliamentarians say reintroducing species may have negative effects

But the government's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has now said they feel current arrangements are inadequate and it feels species should not be reintroduced and given protected statuswithout a full management plan being in place – and that the government should introduce and pay for a compensation scheme for farmers and other land managers to mitigate potential negative effects on livelihoods.

The committee heard evidence from all sides of the debate about rewilding and reintroduction of species. Several individual responders expressed their concerns about the reintroduction of beavers and White Tailed Eagles, but reintroduction programmes was also strongly supported by several landowner charities and wildlife groups, the Environment Agency and others, while some organisations had mixed views, supporting reintroduction but urging caution.  
The report said a compensation scheme and urgent clarity from Government via a national strategy for reintroductions is the only way to alleviate the concerns of farmers and other land managers who may be impacted by high-risk reintroduction projects.
The Chair of the Committee, Sir Robert Goodwill MP said: “The current arrangements for reintroducing species are completely inadequate. At one end of the scale, many farmers and other land users would love to know which low risk plants, birds or maybe insects they could help to prosper – but we don’t yet have a government-approved list they can even look at. But at the higher-risk end, there was nowhere near enough planning or consultation from Government before the protected status of beavers was granted, for example. Beavers can cause problems for farmers by re-directing rivers and flooding agricultural land.
“The protected status of beavers should be reviewed – and there should be much wider and more transparent consultation on any other potentially risky species reintroductions".