When the Chelsea Flower Show presented its biggest prize this year to a lean piece of wet forest full of dam, pool and hut, it was a symbolic moment. Rewilding can still excite or antagonize, but it was a radically new way of managing land for nature, embraced by the mass flow – and by the British establishment.
Five years ago, European revolvers were confused by the British debate over whether beavers should be allowed back to the rivers. Today, hundreds, probably thousands, of beavers are free – and legally – across the country. Where an English landowner, the Kneppe estate in Sussex, first paved the way for abandoning conventional farming for free-range grazing animals and allowing more natural processes to develop, dozens of landowners of all sizes are now following suit.
The well-known debate over the value of re-wilding is still raging, but the British iteration seems to be avoiding talks about reviving wolves and lynxes to cross new frontiers. The terrain of Rewilding is changing, most dramatically with the advent of private funding and a new focus on delivering benefits to people – as well as wildlife.
Quick guide
Rewilding: what is it?
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What is rewilding?
Rewilding is the restoration of nature in places changed by human activity. From the release of top predators such as jaguars and wolves to the release of local pastures in urban areas, re-wilding can occur on a large or small scale. Although there are competing definitions, most are based on restoring sustainable environmental health, whether it is the return of algae forests off the coast of Sussex to England or the reintroduction of ridiculers in the Galapagos Islands.
Why did the term become so popular?
Rewilding captures the imagination of society, being an environmental movement and a science-based process at the same time. With visions of a wilder planet, high–profile conservationists such as David Attenborough and George Monbiot have inspired millions with pathways to a more biodiverse, environmentally healthy future. The success of the pioneers in rewinding around the world has shown what is possible: from the restoration of the Gorongoza National Park in Mozambique after the Civil War to the Knep estate in the South of England.
Is Rewilding Universal Support?
No. Critics of the restoration fear the term is being used to justify removing people from the landscape, especially farmers and local communities. In the United Kingdom, some have dismissed the concept as a fad for high-income farmers and landowners, while others fear it has been used to attack agricultural communities that have been cultivating for hundreds of years.
Can you rewind?
While the boldest re-wildlife initiatives are taking place on a landscape scale, small changes can have a big impact. Millions of people are changing the way they mow their lawn or let nature into their gardens, balconies and window sills can be added, providing more space to restore biodiversity.
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Rebecca Wrigley, CEO of Rewilding Britain, a charity set up with the support of George Monbiot in 2015 after his book Feral, galvanized by the British reorientation, recently found itself at a dinner at the House of Lords for nature-based legal solutions the country’s tying network of zero and natural recovery targets, along with asset managers and investment funds. Suddenly, big money is eager to invest in re-devastating unprofitable land, which is now considered valuable in an era of carbon credits and laws requiring new developments, to bring “net biodiversity benefits” and ensure that rivers are not additional nutrients are added to some English watersheds.
Knep’s mansion in Sussex, early adopter of rewilding. Photo: Anthony Cullen / The Guardian
“In some ways, it’s like the Wild West,” Wrigley said. “There are very few money brokers who are interested in investing in biodiversity and carbon, as well as suppliers on this land. How do people involved in reincarnation know which carbon schemes are legal or whether these funds are backed by fossil fuels or palm oil properties?
Rewilding Britain wants to provide advice to landowners joining its land reclamation network, while other schemes such as the Gold Standard are developing certification schemes for legal compensation.
Link to the series The Wild World
This influx of money is “both an opportunity and a threat,” Wrigley said. “The right kind of funding for re-wilding can be really positive, but we need to make sure it’s done in a way that benefits local communities and economies. Yes, we want to see large-scale restoration of naturally functioning ecosystems and natural processes, but we also want to see how communities play a real role in this. We see people a lot as part of nature. Otherwise, this is another massive corporate land grab. “
These comments reveal another new frontier for British retraining – one that was much less visible five years ago: instead of discussing wolves and bears, today’s rewilders are quick to emphasize people and prosperity. This could be dismissed as rhetoric if there were no new facts in place.
A Rewilding Britain study of 32 projects in England found that they led to a 54% increase in jobs. In Scotland, for example, when Trees for Life bought Dundreggan, there was one person in the former shooting. Eight people are now working on this highland re-wildlife project, plus 15 more jobs when its training center opens.
The Highland re-wildlife project in Dundregan employs eight people, with 15 more coming when the training center opens. Photo: Rob Sutherland / Alami
“Honestly, the controversy over re-wildlife favoring has not yet been won,” said Steve Micklewright, CEO of Trees for Life and organizer of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance. “There is a very strong story that the existing jobs are going and this is another release of Highland. I would say that the Highlands have already been cleared and we have residual jobs related to sport shooting.
Success will be when children leave school and see many different economic opportunities for them through this land Jenny Barlow, Langholm initiative
“But there are too many deer in the mountains, and since we will not see wolves in Scotland any time soon, we need more chasing deer, not less if we re-wild. [to enable natural regeneration of trees]. There are many more jobs for land management in re-wilding before nature can take over. Once that happens, regenerative plants can grow. “
The community-led prewild is also under way, most notably in Langholm, a small town in southern Scotland, where local charity Langholm Initiative is working to rebuild the former textile city of the 1990s, raising 3.8 million pounds in just six months to buy 2,100 hectares (5,200 acres) of swamps and valleys from the Buccleuch estate in 2021. Now the community has received £ 1 million from the Scottish Land Fund, making them one step closer to achieving their goal of raise £ 2.2 million by the end of July to buy another 2,140 hectares (5,300 acres). “It’s incredibly exciting,” said Jenny Barlow, property manager for the Langholm Initiative. “We really hope to get over it, but it will be tense for a few weeks.
“Apart from restoring the land for nature and the climate, there will be really great benefits for the city and the people who live here,” says Barlow. She is inclined to talk about recovery, but says she is not worried about the word “recharge”. “It’s just easier to explain that we’re bringing the building blocks of nature back into the landscape. “It’s very transparent and very clear what we’re trying to do,” she said.
Golden Eagle in Scotland. A rare forest is to be created on a mountain peak near Loch Ness to reverse the loss of high-altitude forests. Photo: Mark Hamblin / PA
Don’t talk hastily about beavers or bison. The first step for Langholm is to develop a five-year plan with the community. The ecological idea is to restore the massive swamp, allow the restoration of the forest at the bottom of the valley and create a mosaic of free-range grazing animals to preserve areas of open swamp for the local star species, the hen swamp. “We’re starting to get golden eagles to visit the valley and other species to return,” Barlow said.
But the key is economic sustainability. “If we don’t get it right, we can’t get the rest,” she said.
As re-wildlife projects are multiplying, not all of them can be supported by glamping, but Langholm’s proximity to the Lake District must ensure successful ecotourism. “Local businesses are really excited to see an increase in people coming here, but we need to make sure it’s sustainable, ethical and well-paid,” Barlow said. Langholm has launched a community-run nursery dealing with renewable energy as well as some commercial forestry. Sustainable carbon credits will also help. Most importantly, the land is a boon for outdoor education. “We’re taking out all the local kids to grow up and say, ‘This is ours,'” Barlow said. “Success will be when these children leave school and see many different economic opportunities for them through this land.
We would like to give communities a place to grow food, we want forest gardens and plots without digging Jan Stanard, Heal Rewilding
Another way to connect people with such projects is the pioneer of Heal Rewilding, a charity that offers the landless majority in England a chance to buy a stake in re-wild land with an ingenious fundraising model based on people who buy 3 meters of 3 square meters. They can be identified by the what3words app, so while donors can’t dig or sleep in their square, a drone can be programmed to rotate over it and take a picture.
Heal Rewilding raised funds to purchase two sites from 160 to 240 hectares in the South of England. Its re-wild will follow the Knepp model, and half will be publicly available with …
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