George Holmes

@georgeholmes.bsky.social

Professor of Conservation and Society @envleeds.bsky.social. Known to students as Dr. Evil. Biodiversity conservation. Human geography. Political ecology. Protected areas. Social impacts of conservation. Human-wildlife coexistence. Rewilding. Sarcasm. .. more

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George Edward Thomas Holmes is a British academic administrator, previously serving as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Greater Manchester (2006-2025).

Source: Wikipedia

Environmental science 47%

Economics 14%

Posts Replies Media Videos

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 5d

this paper in @consletters.bsky.social is a superb primer on what power means in conservation - a big job to summarise centuries of social theory and decades of conservation social science research into a few thousand words!
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Naming It Is Not Enough: An Orienting Map for Understanding Conservation's Entanglement With Power

Power is frequently acknowledged in conservation as a limiting factor, something to be cited, problematized, or managed, less frequently is it engaged with as a lived, situated, and multidimensional ....

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by James M. Bullock, Dolly Jørgensen

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 6d

Fancy coming to POLLEN in Barcelona and joining our panel on "Political Ecologies of Restoration: Reintroduction, Assisted
Migration, and Rewilding"? Then submit an abstract via the link below!

pollenpoliticalecology.network/pollen-2026/...

Programme - POLLEN

pollenpoliticalecology.network

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 6d

thanks- the first draft mentioned infant Ibex goats being "kid-napped", but the reviewer didn't like it. It's my mission to put dad jokes and puns into all my papers.

Reposted by Dan Brockington, Esther Turnhout, Rosaleen Duffy , and 2 more Dan Brockington, Esther Turnhout, Rosaleen Duffy, George Holmes, Karen O’Donnell

Dr George Iordachescu 🏳️‍🌈 🟥 @georgeiorda.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 We are looking for 3 new colleagues to join the GreenFrontier team as Postdoctoral Researchers!

Deadline for applications: 25 Nov 2025

Each of the 3 openings will involve extended ethnographic fieldwork + plenty of opportunities to consolidate research & leadership skills!

Please share widely!

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 11d

(warning. This paper contains dad-jokes)

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 11d

This started off life as a @naturalengland.bsky.social / DEFRA England Species Reintroduction Taskforce blogpost. By the way, the amazing Gabriel Rowland has just started a PhD exploring the social and ecological aspects of illicit and unregulated translocations

Reposted by Rosaleen Duffy, Dolly Jørgensen

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 11d

Short piece in @consletters.bsky.social exploring social, cultural, political and ecological apsects of illicit and unregulated species translocations - what others (not me, due to homophone errors) might call guerilla rewilding. conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Who Let the Frogs out? Illicit and Unregulated Species Translocations

Click on the article title to read more.

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Reposted by David L. Roberts

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 18d

The bison in Kent can be seen by some as a species 're'-introduction, because bonasus and priscus are so genetically and phenotypically close, or a taxon substitution, because they perform the same ecological function, or an introduction of another species altogether, just because it is cool.

Reposted by David L. Roberts

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 18d

We assume that bonasus are a forest species, because that's were the remnant populations were - but they may have preferred grasslands, and only live in forests because they are the last refuge from human pressures. So the forest bison may not be truly at home in forests in Kent or anywhere else

Reposted by David L. Roberts

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 18d

The Kent bison are European forest bison (bison bonasus). No bonasus remains have been found in Britain, but plenty of extinct Steppe Bison (Bison Priscus) remains have been dug up. How different these species were - genetically, phenotypically, ecologically, is contested.

Reposted by David L. Roberts

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 18d

A fun visit to the University of Kent, to discuss species reintroductions. Here's me in front of the campus mural of a European Bison. There's a small herd of them living just three miles from this mural, but it is not a simple story of a 're' introduction.

Two men standing in front of a mural of a bison in forest

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 24d

Yes. I'm presuming it was a careful choice not to quote her exact words in the letter, so I'm not going to post them here. I believe some news outlets reported those words, so you can find them elsewhere. But they were pretty mild and a MILLION miles away from anything dangerous or prejudiced.

Reposted by Anthony Burke

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · 24d

This is an important petition on academic freedom, for a professor at Syracuse, NY, USA, who has been indefinitely suspended for a very mildly sarcastic four-word social media post relating to US politics.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Letter of Support for Professor Farhana Sultana

As scholars within and beyond academia, we write in solidarity with academic freedom of expression with our colleague, Dr. Farhana Sultana, an internationally recognized scholar and tenured Full Profe...

docs.google.com

Reposted by George Holmes, Markus P. Eichhorn

Richard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 27d

Today I am mostly thinking about the popular inter-war literary genre 'animal stories written by fascists'. Join me.

Title page of a collection of animal stories by Henry Williamson: TARKA THE OTTER, SALAR THE SALMON, THE EPIC OF BROCK THE BADGER, CHAKCHEK THE PEREGRINE.

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 3

new virtual exhibition on wetlands, exploring how people interact with their wetlands, their rhythms, dynamic changes, and flows of many kinds. www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/...

Wetland Times

www.environmentandsociety.org

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Oct 2

This paper - on what habituation does and should mean - is a must-read for anyone working on wildlife conservation, human-wildlife interactions/conflict/coexistence, translocations, in the humanities, social sciences, or natural sciences.

People and Nature @peopleandnature.bsky.social · Sep 18

🦊 Reimagining habituation: The case for a reciprocal and contextual understanding ➡️ buff.ly/6rbtYxu

@livwildlab.bsky.social @ethanddoney.bsky.social @vdonfrancesco.bsky.social @hannalp.bsky.social @csandbrook.bsky.social

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 29

The original paper is this one, in @peopleandnature.bsky.social
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...

Stakeholder consensus suggests strategies to promote sustainability in an artisanal fishery with high rates of poaching and marine mammal bycatch

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 29

I've long thought of our research as artworks 😉. But now it is actually true - our research on Caspian seal conservation has been integrated into an artwork in Berlin, on ecological degradation and human-nature interactions. w/ @phoca-sapiens.bsky.social.
www.studio1-0-6.com/carried-by-t...

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 26

Another productive meeting of the Defra/ @naturalengland.bsky.social Species Reintroduction Taskforce, this time at Wild Ennerdale, Cumbria. Classic Taskforce behaviour, crouching in a forest looking at a successfully translocated Hairy Wood Ant colony.

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 23

Provocative but very necessary argument in @consletters.bsky.social on rethinking politics and definitions in carnivore conservation in Europe, moving away from crisis mode now that meta-populations are healthy. By @hannalp.bsky.social and von Essen
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Now What? The Conundrum of Successful Recovery of Wolves and Other Species for European Conservation

The recent decision to downlist the wolf from a “strictly protected” to “protected” status in the Bern Convention and Habitats Directive marks a turning point for European conservation. While reflect...

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 23

Happy Fat Bear Week, for all of those who celebrate: explore.org/fat-bear-week

Fat Bear Week 2025

explore.org

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 19

along with @monicavasile.bsky.social and @hannalp.bsky.social I a huge fan of underwhelming species reintroduction videos. Here is my contribution, releasing some native ramshorn snails into my garden pond.

Reposted by George Holmes, Chris Sandbrook

People and Nature @peopleandnature.bsky.social · Sep 18

Reposted by Colin M. Beale, George Holmes

Élie Pédarros @eliepedarros.bsky.social · Sep 12

Excited to share the preprint of our first @cascade-hei.bsky.social paper on “Potential for academic institutions to support international biodiversity commitments” 🌿 🌍.

Potential for academic institutions to support international biodiversity commitments

doi.org

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 11

My academic sphere crosses between critical geography and conservation biology. Of the two, I've seen more racism in geography arenas than in biology. For all the anti-racist rhetoric, there can be some major lack of reflection. Doesn't help its ability to address all the horror in the world.

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 1

See "The Rider on the White Horse" (Der Schimmelreiter), a classic late 19th century German novella by Theodor Storm - which @untamed.bsky.social suggested I read before our trip to the dykes and marshes of the Wadden Sea. Also, my geophysicist friend Adam Booth can image beaver tunnels underground.

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 1

There is a long history of animals in/on dykes in that general area - e.g. sheep are good (they compact dyke soil, suppress vegetation), mice and rabbits bad (tunneling/loosen soil). Plus stories of burying live animals (including humans!) in dykes as a superstition to ensure strong dykes.

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Sep 1

Piece in @theguardian.com on 17-metre long beaver tunnels in Dutch dykes. Shows the potential issues with beaver re-introductions, and how risks/benefits vary vastly between places. Also, neatly reworks the metaphor of beaver dams/tunnels as ecological engineering www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Beavers were welcomed back to the Netherlands. Until they started digging 17m-long tunnels | Renate van der Zee

Reintroduced to help boost biodiversity and retain water, beavers are now in danger of causing serious flooding. Should there be more culls? asks Dutch writer and journalist Renate van der Zee

www.theguardian.com

George Holmes @georgeholmes.bsky.social · Aug 8

My comment on a student's draft of a PhD thesis chapter, and their reply. Some books are a classic for a reason. I judge a book on how often PhD students borrow/steal it from my bookshelf.

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