Nature recovery

2 Letting nature lead

Taking advantage of opportunities to kick-start nature recovery can lead to the restoration of some natural processes that were previously present and also help to establish new ones.

Removing a dam changes the way water flows, enabling new interactions between freshwater plants and animals. It also allows a river to resume its role in the downriver dispersal of waterborne sediments and seeds.

Preventing boats from mooring on a sensitive seabed can allow seagrass beds to recover. This provides essential spawning grounds for fish, helping fish stocks to recover, with knock-on effects throughout the food web.

Allowing carcasses to remain in the wild can re-start the circle of life, helping scavengers return to an area. It can also boost populations of invertebrates, which lock up carbon in their shells and help to transfer nutrients from the carcass to the soil.

The phrase ‘passive rewilding’ is sometimes used to refer to humans stepping back, scaling down or ceasing management, and allowing space and time for nature to recover. This cost-effective approach can be very successful where barriers to natural processes are few, and there is already some heterogeneity (diversity or variety) within the landscape and connectivity with other areas.

Leaving deadwood in forests and rivers is a simple way of reducing human management and restoring natural processes.