Why we need to listen to farmers’ perspectives on lynx and wolf reintroductions

Whether in Monaghan or Malawi, Navan or Nepal, we should listen to and take seriously the perspectives of those who make their living from the land says environmental social scientist, Dr Jonny Hanson

Dr Jonny Hanson in the Annapurna region of Nepal. Picture: Abinash Lama

Growing up in rural Monaghan in the 1990s, there was one thing that I wanted to be more than any other — a wildlife conservationist.

Then, in 1999, my family and I moved to Malawi, in southern Africa. Suddenly, the animals that had roamed my imagination became the species that lived in the country — and sometimes the city — that I now called home.