Ben is a leading advocate in Britain for the recovery of nature. In particular, Ben has been a long-standing campaigner for rewilding, including the reintroduction of lost species such as beavers, wild boar, wildcats and lynx to Britain.
In 2023 Ben published a widely-acclaimed memoir, God is an Octopus, exploring how time spent in nature, and the rewilding of his family farm in south Somerset, brought solace, meaning and hope in the wake of the devastating loss of his teenage daughter Iris in an accident four years earlier.
Ben was a government advisor and non-executive director of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2018–2022.
During that time he played a significant role in the reform of farm subsidies in England, away from unconditional subsidies to a new system built on the principle of ‘public money for public good’, whereby payments are directly linked to the stewardship and restoration of soils and nature.
He was also instrumental in bringing to fruition the 25-year environment plan, the Environment Act (2021), the Fisheries Act (2021) and the Species Reintroductions Taskforce.
“My greatest heroes are those people who devote their lives to the proactive restoration of nature – healing landscapes, reintroducing species, and winning hearts and minds by the magic of their work. They are, thankfully, not held back by caution or criticism.”
"If you look at restoring the whole Andes, the entire Andean mountain range, you can't just go at it by planting trees. There are so many other things that you need to do to holistically permit nature to actually come back." In this episode Ben Goldsmith talks with inspirational Earthshot Prizewinner, Florent Kaiser. Florent is leading an effort to restore the high altitude forests of the Andes, stretching all the way from Venezuela down to Patagonia. Accion Andina is a truly earth-changing initiative. Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.
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