What is Rewilding? A Simple Explanation.

• Before modern humans walked the Earth, wild nature thrived without our help. 
  
  
• Rewilding returns natural spaces to that healthy state and stops the damage to our climate, wildlife, rivers and countryside.
  
  

• But for 1000s of years, we’ve changed nature by wiping out herbivores (plant-eaters), carnivores (meat-eaters), draining land, channeling and blocking rivers, and breaking up wilderness into tiny chunks.
  
  

• This means we can’t just leave land alone to ‘go wild’ – we need to repair the damage first, before natural cycles can start again and run without our help.
  
  

• One of the ways to do this is by reintroducing herbivores like beavers and bison, or carnivores like wildcats and eagles on large plots of land.
  
  

• Smaller plots aren’t big enough for this – here, humans can copy what these animals do, knocking down trees, digging holes or taking wild meat, to help keep nature in balance.
  
  

• True wilderness is always changing – animals and plants evolved to live in that ever-changing landscape – rewilding returns natural spaces to that state of change.
  
  

• Rewilding also helps humans in many ways, like flood protection, carbon storage and soil health. It creates new jobs in ecotourism, wild farming and habitat restoration.

Learn more about the benefits for us in our article Why is Rewilding Important for Humans?