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.
“We can only thrive if nature thrives”
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 also show in our new report ‘Adapting to Climate Heating: How rewilding can help save Britain’s wildlife from extinction’, 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.