Professor Jane Stout:

I will briefly pick up on two points in terms of how much more we understand now and how the science has moved on in the past 50 or 60 years. We now know that things like clearing or using flood plains in order to facilitate farming or development are a really bad idea. We need to pay attention to the latest science and research that is showing what not to do. Coming back to the issue of rhododendron and Killarney national park, Ireland is not a place where wildfires are natural. We do not have fire-adapted ecosystems but rhododendron survives fire. We need an approach that tackles the rhododendron problem, allows the native woodlands to regenerate and could also protect against fire in the future. It is important to listen to the science and to learn from elsewhere as well.