rewilding concept
Rewilding is a progressive approach to nature conservation that aims to restore biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural processes lost due to human activities such as agriculture, urbanisation and other forms of development. Rewilding enables the forces of nature to transform both land and sea, stimulating the repair of damaged ecosystems, restoring degraded landscapes and increasing biodiversity, restoring the overall health and functionality of entire ecosystems.
Rewilding is a form of restoration ecology, but not all restoration ecology is rewilding. Rewilding sees the environment as constantly evolving, rather than fixed habitats as classical restoration ecology would see it. The ultimate goal is to create self-sustaining ecosystems that require no human intervention and can support a wide range of plant and animal species.
Chance to restore nature
There are not many places left in Europe where people can experience wild nature. Decades of intensive farming and forestry, regulation of water courses and increasing urbanisation have led to massive environmental transformation and a drastic reduction in the role of natural processes in shaping the landscape. Anthropogenic changes have consequences far more serious than just aesthetic – the European continent is today facing a massive decline in biodiversity and increasingly dangerous weather events, such as droughts, floods and fires, are threatening the lives and health of Europe’s residents.
Rewilding presents a new opportunity to reverse negative processes and restore harmony in the European landscapes. Regeneration of nature based on rewilding principles is the best way to address today’s climate and biodiversity challenges.
The lessons that can be drawn from past environmental efforts show that our current efforts are insufficient. The main conservation strategies are only able to slow down the loss of biodiversity, however they are not able to stop it, as successive reports on the state of the environment in Europe have shown. As a response to the ongoing decline in populations of various species and the challenges of the climate crisis, the concept of rewilding has evolved.
Natural disturbances, not resulting from human induced processes, are an essential element for the functioning of healthy ecosystems. Flooding by water, grazing by big herbivores as well as predation, and the effects of wind and fire, are the main disturbances occurring in the natural world. The role of rewilding is to restore these processes so that nature can once again create, resilient and diverse landscapes. Sometimes, the only action humans have to take is to stop their impact on the natural environment – giving up active management, excluding hunting and fishing, are often enough to get nature back on track. In other cases, where human influence has interfered too much with the functioning of natural ecosystem,
it is necessary to remove man-made barriers, for example: dams and barrages to restore the natural course of rivers. When this is necessary, we need to re-establish wildlife populations in an area, e.g. through reintroduction programmes. Unlike classical conservation strategies in Europe, rewilding does not adopt any specific end point. Wild healthy nature, is in constant transformation and its diversity ensures its stability and self-sustainability.
Rewilding is a new conservation strategy that gives hope for the restoration of natural processes and lost biodiversity, as well as the potential for a range of benefits for the people of Europe. A healthy environment is capable of providing much more than degraded ecosystems. Clean air, fresh water and fertile soil are just some of the processes for which nature is responsible, and which underpin the functioning of life on earth. Regeneration of nature based on rewilding principles will restore lost ecosystem services, improving human health, wellbeing and security.
In times of global warming, the restoration of wild nature is also key to mitigating the effects of climate change. Restoration of damaged, ecosystems such as wild grasslands, forests and peatlands will enable us to sequester and store significant amounts of carbon. Rivers where the natural course has been restored pose a much lower flood risk than regulated rivers. Forests with high levels of biodiversity are far more resistant to wildfires. These examples show us how important is nature in the fight against global warming. Nature-based solutions are not only very effective, but also require significantly lower costs than man-made infrastructure and can bring many benefits beyond the specific environmental problem, such as increased oxygen production or recreational opportunities.
As a result, rewilding is winning the hearts and minds of many people across Europe, giving hope for a better future in which man and nature can function together, in good health and harmony.