Author: Sam Hackney

Although the term was initially coined in the 1990s, ‘rewilding’ has come to dominate conservation thinking in the last fifteen years. This seemingly paradigmatic shift was consequent of a growing perception that a vision of planetary future should not merely appease a bare minimum criterion for ecological longevity. Instead, conservationists should envision an ecologically prosperous future that supersedes the conditions of the present or the recent past. Many of the initiatives enacted under the banner of ‘rewilding’ may be seen as the attempted actualisation of this vision. 

Six years have passed since Citizen Zoo’s original Rewilding Symposium in 2019. This period has seen a rapid acceleration in the global recognition of rewilding alongside the now widespread presence of rewilding initiatives. The growth and support of the rewilding movement has coincided, of course, with the continued acceleration of global biodiversity loss and the increasingly unignorable impacts of anthropogenic climate change. The common philosophy across the sometimes-disparate presentations of participants was that the process of actively reinstating biodiversity is inextricably tied to the viability of our planetary future. 

Rewilding Futures played host to a globally diverse set of speakers from organisations including Rewilding Chile; Rewilding Europe; Rewilding Britain; Gorongosa National Park (Mozambique), Blue Marine Foundation; The Wildlife Trusts and Rewilding Argentina. 

This year, the University of Cambridge played host to the conference, bringing together leading voices to tackle pivotal issues in the field and discuss the future of rewilding in the coming decades. Key highlights for me were as follows: 

 

Carnivore Reintroductions 

Luigi Boitani asked, ‘What role for wolves in Europe?’ – a fascinating presentation which argued for the conservation status and continued legal protection of wolves across the continent. The recovery of the species has been successful across swathes of Europe, and this has raised questions of the potential down listing of the species. Most interestingly, the presentation pulled into question the oft perceived justification for wolf reintroduction – their capacity to create a trophic cascade of top-down ecological restoration. The speaker argued that this justification has been historically overstated in the same way that their potential to prey on livestock has been underplayed. For Boitani, we must acknowledge that our desire for the presence of wolves is based on our perception of the species’ intrinsic value and simultaneously the real concerns about livestock predation must be mitigated. 

A presentation from Scotland: The Big Picture provided a summary of their efforts in working towards a reintroduction of Eurasian Lynx in Scotland. Similarly to Boitani’s consideration of wolves in Europe, they also acknowledged that the carnivore’s potential to prey on livestock has been understated by previous groups who have lobbied for lynx reintroduction. Most importantly, Scotland: The Big Picture acknowledged the necessity of garnering support from stakeholders who may be impacted by the presence of lynx. The organisation’s more clearheaded approach to the possibility of lynx reintroduction in Scotland marked a stark contrast to the mysterious and illegal releases in the Cairngorms which preceded the conference. 

Perhaps the most contentious presentation of the event came from the Colossal Foundation – a Texan initiative that claims they are enacting a process of Thylacine ‘de-extinction’. A mandated project will see the Tasmanian Tiger, extinct since 1936, re-animated and playing a significant role in future Tasmanian ecology. This, alongside their programme of Woolly Mammoth ‘de-extinction’, could be perceived as representing the boldest outreaches of the rewilding movement. Pragmatists within the conference raised concerns about the detrimental implications that this unprecedented project, the mandate of which transcends ordinary legal barriers to reintroduction, could have on Tasmanian ecology. 

 

Land for rewilding: Legal mechanisms and Ownership 

The Lifescape Project offered an analysis of the legal mechanisms used to secure land for long-term rewilding, such as conservation covenants in England and conservation burdens in Scotland. Their talk Using Novel Legal Mechanisms to Secure Land for Rewilding: Lessons from across UK and Europe outlined the ways in which various mechanisms allow or impede the long-term dedication of land for rewilding. Utilising cross comparison case studies from across Europe, this talk encouraged innovative and collaborative approaches to improving land use legislation. 

Similarly, Ted Theisinger’s workshop To Own and Control: The Future of Land Governance Structures in Scotland and Beyond presented an interesting consideration of the future of conservation in Scotland. Scotland is one of the most depleted terrestrial landscapes and simultaneously has one of the most concentrated structures of land ownership in the world. Throughout the workshop, participants considered the ways in which existing legislative instruments define the parameters of conservation within the context of Scottish land ownership. The workshop oriented toward imagining a future where non-human voices were interwoven into considerations of what to do with our lands and seas. 

 

Peatland Restoration

Among the many intriguing discussions of individual sites where rewilding is enacted was Andrew Osborne’s historical ecology of Chat Moss, a 36km square area of lowland raised bog in Salford. The presentation traced the history of Chat Moss over the last 200 years, including industrial habitat destruction which resulted in a significant loss of flora and fauna in the area. The talk highlighted the work of restoration projects dating back to the 1980s, driven by the imperative to preserve carbon stored in the peat and encourage carbon sequestration. Consequentially, the last forty years have seen the translocations of many species into the area, including the recent reintroduction of the Large Heath Butterfly (Coenonympha tullia). 

 

Marine Rewilding

Another highlight was the Blue Marine Foundation’s presentation Rewilding the Seas: A modern odyssey of hope and challenge. Charles Clover outlined the work of the Blue Marine Foundation and looked to answer the question: why rewild the sea, which in comparison to land, is seemingly already wild? The presentation argued that the principles of sea rewilding are essentially the same as that of land, to bring back lost and depleted species to our oceans and restore ecosystems that have been harmed by human activities?– simply by stepping back and letting nature repair the damage, or by reintroducing species/ restoring habitats. 

 

Final Thoughts

While aspects of rewilding remain deeply contentious and there continues to be a vast diversity in perspectives of what rewilding should and could be, the most substantial thematic takeaway is that rewilding has galvanised people in a way that traditional conservation approaches have not.  

In 2025, the impacts of anthropogenic climate change and unprecedented biodiversity loss are met with deterministically inactive governing bodies across the globe. In many ways things seem more hopeless than ever before, yet actors within the conservation field understand that without hope there can be no inspiration for change.  

The revolutionary potential of the rewilding movement has come to represent the last beacon of hope for a viable future for people and nature – a possible catalyst for change.