Over the years I’ve taken on voluntary work focused on climate awareness and disaster preparedness in developing countries. These voluntary roles have taken me to Malaysian Borneo and the Philippines, among many others, where my commitment to climate action has only grown stronger, particularly rewilding.
Rewilding is one of a number of large-scale strategic solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing us as a species. From fighting the impact of the climate crisis to reversing the loss of biodiversity, rewilding can contribute across the board.
What exactly is rewilding?
Rewilding is a progressive, future-proofing way to think about conservation. It lets nature come back to itself and enables natural processes to shape and reshape oceans and the land itself.
The restoration of degraded landscapes and the repair of damaged ecosystems are by products of rewilding. We can think of it as facilitating nature’s natural rhythms to create fully biodiverse habitats long into the future.
Helping nature help itself
By creating the right conditions, we can help nature survive and govern itself. This means removing dykes and dams to unblock rivers, reducing management of wildlife populations to allow them to rebalance and by facilitating natural forest regeneration.
Rewilding also encompasses reintroducing species that have been ‘disappeared’ by our collective actions. It has to be at a large enough scale to restore ecosystems to a condition that nature can take care of itself.
By reinstating natural processes we can bring nature back to life, save wildlife, fight climate breakdown and benefit every one of us too. This shift from protecting nature to the recovery and restoration of nature needs to happen now.
7 ways rewilding helps to restore ecosystems and bring nature back to life
1. Rewilding can be part of the fight against the climate crisis
Our best friend when it comes to fighting the impact of climate change is nature itself. Peatland, trees and other ecosystems naturally absorb and store carbon dioxide. We need more of all of them.
Around 12 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the UK could be captured by restoring these ecosystems. Native woodland, heaths, grasslands and peatlands cover around 30 per cent of the UK, according to Rewilding Britain.
2. Rewilding can support local economies
Rewilding could create an ecosystem of employment. People could be employed to restore natural river flow, mix livestock management, run community activities and much more.
All of this would also bring more people to the rewilded area, so there could be opportunities for ecotourism experiences. We have stats to prove this too. Projects in England and Wales have seen double the amount of job creation, according to the Rewilding Network.
3. Rewilding can reverse biodiversity losses
By re-establishing diverse habitats, whether scrubland, peatland or woodland, wildlife will have fighting chance to bounce back naturally. And, if we connect all of these restored ecosystems properly, species will be able to move to survive as the climate continues to change.
Right now, more than half of British species are in decline and 15 per cent are under threat of total extinction. But we know it’s possible to create the conditions that will allow them to thrive.
4. Rewilding can boost our own wellbeing
It’s not all about improving wildlife. Rewilding is also about people. It’s absolutely vital to our mental and physical health to have access to natural landscapes. It gives us all a place to escape to, somewhere for children to play and an important way to connect with nature and each others.
5. Rewilding can create healthy soil, clean air and clean water
Rewilding is not something that we should put on the backburner. Properly functioning ecosystems are needed by all of us. Soil gives us food, trees filter the air we need to survive and clean rivers give us clean water.
As it stands though, only 14 per cent of rivers in Britain are in a decent ecological condition. Studies show that the reintroduction of beavers can reduce pollution.
6. Rewilding strengthens communities
Rewilding has huge potential to unite local communities. It’s not just about designing a better future that brings communities closer, but the resultant landscape will give numerous benefits too.
From restoring a sense of pride in our natural environment to creating jobs and offering solutions to improve health and wellbeing, the benefits are many and varied.
7. Rewilding can help to mitigate damage caused by extreme weather
The climate is breaking down and we can see the results all around us. From nightmarish storms decimating parts of North Carolina to the cataclysmic floods in Spain, just a few short months of 2024 have clearly demonstrated the dangers associated with climate change.
Nature can help us mitigate this – if we let it. Native trees and scrubland absorb way more water than hills that have been decimated, which protects against flash floods. Similarly, healthy habitats and good soil help native vegetation to grow, making them less at risk from wildfires compared with damaged moorlands and heavily grazed grasslands.
Why we should all help to rewild Britain
Climate change will affect each and every one of us, and if we want to build a better future for the next generation, it’s imperative that we act now.
About George Rist
George Rist is a management consultant renowned for his expertise in organisation transformation. A year spent studying in Ghana kickstarted his lifelong enthusiasm for finding solutions to the climate crisis, something that George Rist includes in all of his work.