Why rewilding, why now? (4/5)
What is rewilding?
Common Comfrey feeding the bees in the Somerset Wildlands rewilding project, 2023
As opposed to some more traditional forms of conservation, which look to a preserve a particular ecosystem of scientific interest or biological importance, often requiring considerable human management, rewilding gives nature the reigns and observes the changes that take place. In other words, conservation looks to freeze the land in a particular state for its protection, whereas rewilding is inherently future focused, embracing the unpredictability and complexity of nature. Conservation can work well, but its often focused on maintaining an already degraded ecosystem in stasis because it just so happens to serve as a foothold for a particular species of interest. Rewilding on the other hand has consistently proven a successful approach to improving biodiversity and bio-abundance across species.
What else does rewilding do?
Landscape transformation at the Knepp Estate. Source
The benefits of rewilding don’t stop at biodiversity. Rewilded landscapes also act as sponges, soaking up and filtering excess water during periods of flooding, and holding water during times of drought. This in turn limits the risk of flooding & fires, whilst building habitats for birds, fish, amphibians, insects and mammals to flourish. In many cases, rewilding is also a highly effective means of storing carbon, particularly when the project involves re-establishing wetlands. For example, a re-established coastal saltmarsh will store more carbon in 4 years than 1 million trees will in 10.[1] Taking a more terrestrial example, the soil carbon in England’s flagship rewilding project, the ‘Knepp Estate’ has doubled since they began rewilding. Given soil is the second largest carbon sink on Earth, this figure is considerable. Rewilding has also proven an effective means of regenerating local economies, with an average boost of 54% in local jobs when compared to traditional land management practices. It is a holistic solution which ‘saves two birds with one bird feeder’… that saying may need work. But the facts remain, in the face of biodiversity collapse and a heating planet, rewilding improves biodiversity & bioabundance and draws down CO2, whilst simultaneously rebuilding resilience in our ecosystems to help us handle the worst effects of climate change.
As a cherry on top, it is also one of the cheapest solutions we have, given it looks to reduce human management as much as possible.