From August 2026, Ian is pleased to announce he has become an ‘Open Doors Member’ of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER). He is joining their network of over 5,200 members working to advance the field of ecological restoration worldwide. Across the globe, centuries of unsustainable activities have damaged the aquatic, marine, and terrestrial environments that underpin our economies and societies. SER is dedicated to reversing this degradation and restoring the earth for the benefit of both humans and nature.Mission

SER advances the science, practice, and policy of ecological restoration to sustain biodiversity, improve resilience in a changing climate, and re-establish an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture. Their Mission, Vision and Guiding Values are reproduced in full below:

Mission

SER advances the science, practice, and policy of ecological restoration to sustain biodiversity, improve resilience in a changing climate, and re-establish an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture.

Vision

Ecological restoration becomes a fundamental component of conservation and sustainable development programs throughout the world by virtue of its inherent capacity to provide people with the opportunity to not only repair ecological damage, but also improve the human condition.

Guiding Values

These underlying values guide and inform our work:

• Ecological restoration is an engaging and inclusive process. Restoration embraces the interrelationships between nature and culture, engages all sectors of society, and enables full and effective participation of indigenous, local, and disenfranchised communities
• Ecological restoration requires the integration of knowledge and practice. All forms of knowledge are essential for designing, implementing, and monitoring restoration projects and programs. At the same time, lessons learned from practical experiences are essential for determining and prioritizing the scientific needs of the field.
• Ecological restoration is policy-relevant and essential. Restoration is a critical tool for achieving biodiversity conservation, mitigating and adapting to climate change, enhancing ecosystem services, fostering sustainable socioeconomic development, and improving human health and well-being.
• Ecological restoration is practiced locally with global implications. Restoration takes place in all regions of the world, with local actions having regional and global benefits for nature and people.

You can read some of Ian’s blogs and journals on Land Art, Sustainability, Environmental Restoration and the Rights of Nature here:

River Deities
The Water Sanctuary
Thunderbirds
Tune into the Wild
Wide Sargasso Sea

Ian has had a deep love of river ecology stemming from his passion for river fly fishing that goes back over 40-years. Linked to this, over the last 8-years he has volunteered as part of a nationwide ‘citizen science’ programme called The Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (RMI) run by River Fly Partnership linked to the Freshwater Biological Association.

From August 2026, Ian is pleased to announce that as well as becoming an ‘Open Doors Member’ of the Society for Ecological Restoration , he has also applied to become a member of the European Team Hub of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature.