Restoring Natural Processes: Rewilding

Rewilding is a form of large-scale conservation aimed at restoring and protecting natural processes and core wilderness areas. It often involves reducing human intervention and sometimes reintroducing keystone species (species that have a disproportionately large effect on their environment relative to their abundance, like wolves or beavers) that have been lost.

Key Ideas:

• Focus on restoring ecosystem functions and natural processes (like predation, natural grazing, river dynamics) rather than specific species targets.
• Often involves large, connected areas (cores, corridors).
• Allows nature to take its course with minimal ongoing management.
• Can increase biodiversity, enhance carbon sequestration, and provide natural flood management.

It differs from traditional conservation which often focuses on maintaining specific habitats or species populations in a relatively static state.