A lookback at rewilding in 2021

The momentum behind the rewilding movement has shown no signs of slowing down since the inaugural World Rewilding day was set up by the Global Rewilding Alliance (GRA) last year. The GRA now boasts more than 125 members rewilding over 100 million hectares of land in 70 plus countries. 

This is in addition to the plethora of small to medium-sized organizations and projects that began or continued working to restore ecosystems and recover biodiversity. Here at Mossy Earth, 2021 was a positive year for ramping up our impact: with the support of our members we planted 123,000 native trees, carried out 12 rewilding projects focusing on supporting and protecting 14 wildlife species across 8 countries.

Change is also occurring on a policy level as governments are starting to recognise and act on rewilding’s role in nature recovery. Early in 2022, the UK government announced that farmers are to be offered subsidies to rewild their land as part of large-scale nature recovery plans to meet the government’s commitment to protecting 30% of our oceans and land by 2030. The jury is out, however, on whether these plans will do enough with skeptics arguing crucial details are lacking from the plan. 

A notable takeaway from 2021 is that there seems to be an increased awareness of rewilding’s importance which is challenging us to move more rapidly towards large-scale ecosystem restoration. This, I’m sure most will agree, should be the focus of World Rewilding Day on March 20th 2022.

World Rewilding Day and other environmental-based celebrations

Similar to the UN designated World Environment Day and World Wildlife Day, the basis of World Rewilding Day is to stress the importance of protecting and restoring our planet’s fragile ecosystems and biodiversity.

World Environment Day takes place every year on 5th June to promote current and critical environmental issues; it spans 5 decades of involvement from the UN, governments, businesses, celebrities, and citizens. World Wildlife Day began in 2013 to mark the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora; it raises awareness of the threats to animal and plant populations with a themed focus each year. Both days hold a host of key events that allow space for crucial discussions and have sparked a momentum of conservational action as a result.

World Rewilding Day provides the chance to communicate and showcase the positive impacts of rewilding interventions in the fight against climate change and the protection of wildlife. Its inception stemmed from the Global Rewilding Charter and 11th World Wilderness Congress in efforts to exemplify European successes and broaden rewilding’s impact on a global perspective. Although without a theme, the day shares the common thread of all these environmental-based days: Humans are vitally dependent on sustaining the interconnectivity and interdependence of living species on this planet.

Promoting Trophic Cascades

The popularity of rewilding has grown in prominence in the last few decades thanks to the numerous benefits it brings to the environment, wildlife, plants, and people, in addition to the hope it inspires for the future. Here are some reasons why rewilding is so important.

Rewilding helps to reestablish trophic cascades by using top predators - often keystone species, those who directly and indirectly have a significant impact on their ecosystem. When these species are reintroduced to environments they once belonged to, they deliver extraordinary changes on different levels in the ecosystem and help to restore balance. Like a ripple effect, a keystone species at the top of the food chain can reduce overpopulation of herbivores, which in turn reduces grazing and allows the regrowth of vegetation. This regeneration attracts other wildlife to inhabit land and continue building the ecological web. The extent of influence reintroducing keystone species can have goes as far as adapting the landscape and composition of the soil and atmosphere.

Climate Change Mitigation

Some of the disastrous effects of climate change are already being felt across the globe: raging wildfires; severe droughts; regular flooding; rising sea levels along coastal areas and acidification of our oceans. With the increased frequency of such events, this complex issue requires immediate action from us to move off a carbon-based economy.

However, solutions need to come from an array of areas, one of which is based on building nature’s resilience. This is where rewilding plays a key role through reforesting and restoring natural carbon-sinks such as forests (terrestrial and marine), wetlands, peatlands, and oceans. By creating healthier landscapes, we increase the earth’s capabilities of storing carbon in plants and soil, and therefore mitigate against more catastrophic natural disasters. As well drawing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, rewilding also helps prevent flooding and stops the spread of wildfires. Forests absorb and channel rainfall preventing it from inundating watercourses, streams, or rivers. The planting of more resilient native tree species in rewilding projects boosts a forest’s ability to slow or break the spread of wildfires.

Rewilding’s Success Stories

One of the successes to shout about on World Rewilding Day is the incredible impacts caused by the reintroduction of wolves to the Yellowstone National Park in the USA in 1995. This story captured the imagination of worldwide audiences as this keystone species sparked a resurgence of nature and life in the park simply by hunting overpopulated dears. Without predators the dear roamed freely and overgrazed the land preventing growth of vegetation. Once wolves returned, not only did they control the numbers of dears, but they also affected the dears’ behaviour forcing them to avoid exposed areas. The effects of this trophic cascade were forests expanded; wildlife returned; and even the rivers courses were altered as riverbanks became more resilient.

The Knepp Castle Estate in the UK champions the impacts of rewilding for sustainable farming practices, habitat creation and engaging people. For decades, the land was unprofitably intensively farmed whilst the use of herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides was depleting the soil of nutrients. The implementation of rewilding strategies, such as introducing grazing animals and restoring natural water courses, triggered a remarkable turnaround. The estate now provides habitats for a variety of wildlife and can boast breeding ground for rare species like turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons, and purple emperor butterflies. What’s more, the land still produces meat-based products that are farmed sustainably without the huge capital outlays of traditional farms. The 3,500-acre estate is open for the public to experience the valuable work that’s been done to rewild the land.