What is rewilding and why is it important?

6 Module summary

You have learned in this first module that rewilding connects to conservation, economics, politics and law, arts and culture, recent times and pre-history. You have also learned that rewilding is not only about nature; it is also fundamentally about people too.

Rewilding is a comprehensive approach that helps nature recover and people to benefit. This means that to rewild, we need people from all backgrounds with skills in many different sectors.

Biologists and ecologists, poets and writers, lawyers and policy makers, farmers and shepherds, drivers and divers – everyone has a role to play.

For this reason, the final rewilding principle is knowledge exchange – as we grow the rewilding movement and find new ways to help nature recover, we share the best-available evidence, knowledge and learning to help us succeed.

Rewilding principle

Exchanging knowledge and expertise to continually refine rewilding best practice and achieve the best possible rewilding results. Using the best-available evidence, gathering and sharing data, and having the confidence to learn from failure will lead to success.

In this module you have studied the principles of rewilding and the context of rewilding in Europe. You have seen how adopting a ‘big picture’ perspective helps us to imagine a positive future that inspires action today.

Activity: Rewilding principles related to people

Allow 10 minutes

Reflection – look back at the list of rewilding principles you noted down at the start of this module in Section 1.2 Activity: Discover the Rewilding Principles.

How many are related to people?

Make a note of them in the box below.

Click here to compare your list to ours.

Now that you have completed this module, you should be able to:

Correctly identify the concepts and principles of rewilding, in relation to their context, including its benefits for nature and people, and its ‘big picture’ approach to enhancing natural processes.
Describe the concept of shifting baseline syndrome, its impact on perceptions of ecosystem health, and strategies to counteract it by examining ecological history.
Recognise how rewilding aims to restore the functional roles of lost wildlife species, focusing on natural processes and interactions to inform future conservation efforts.
Analyse the causes and socio-economic challenges of rural depopulation and explore how land abandonment and wildlife reintroduction through rewilding can transform rural communities and develop nature-based economies
Relate the historical and legal context of conservation in Europe and assess the role of protected areas and legal constraints in rewilding efforts.
Analyse how rewilding can serve as a nature-based solution to climate change by restoring carbon-rich ecosystems, enhancing natural carbon capture and promoting climate resilience for both nature and people.

Next, in Module 2 – Nature recovery, we will look deeper into the ecology of rewilding.

Now have a go at the Module 1 quiz.