Imagine life bursting back to our land and seas, where wildlife numbers are growing instead of shrinking and we’re working with nature, as a part of nature, instead of exploiting it. Nature can recover when given a chance. We have to give it that chance.
Watch the video below to see the transformation of an ecologically degraded part of Britain’s uplands…
By protecting, restoring and regenerating species-rich mosaics of habitats, rewilding helps reverse biodiversity loss and bring back the abundance of Britain’s wildlife. We’ve demonstrated that rewilding also helps to mitigate climate heating by drawing down millions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere. We’ve shown in our report ‘Adapting to Climate Heating’ report how rewilding allows wildlife to disperse and adapt as our climate heats, saving a significant number from further decline or extinction.
Rewilding also presents opportunities for communities to diversify and create more resilient, nature-based economies — and reconnects us with the wonders of wild nature, improving physical and mental health.
The breakdown of our climate and the species extinction crisis are no longer fringe concerns but are increasingly recognised as urgent existential threats to both nature and human society. Yet the gulf between our awareness of that threat and the inadequacy of our current response is terrifying. Now, more than ever, we must reset our relationship with the natural world. Nature is a part of us. It’s our life support system.
Britain should be teeming with wildlife. Instead many of our wildlife populations – from songbirds to insects and plankton – are collapsing. To repair our planet we must urgently achieve net carbon zero — and natural climate solutions can contribute significantly to this aim. Protecting our living world and our climate are largely one and the same. And rewilding, the large-scale restoration of ecosystems to the point where nature can take care of itself, plays a vital role in both.
