Rewilding & Wilderness Development
Shifting baselines
Europeans inherited and grew up in a severely defaunated and degraded state of nature (Pauly, 1995), and are therefore effectively suffering an extinction of experience with wilder nature (Soga & Gaston, 2018), particularly in central and western Europe. This results in forgotten coexistence practices that need to be re-learnt and a collective shift in mindset that needs to occur around the return of self-sustaining landscapes and their natural dynamic processes.
A hopeful message.
Rewilding gives us a real chance to pass on an enriched rather than a degraded natural heritage to the next generation. It involves trusting in nature’s ability to restore herself and returning her ecological integrity. Balancing out the absence of human direction with the integration of society into this process is what makes rewilding so ambitious. At its core, it is inspiring and creates hope. A desperately needed positive narrative for the accelerating global challenges we face!
Call to action
- Spread the word.
- Strengthen your own nature-connection and rekindle your excitement for a living world.
- Visit European rewilding areas as a guest – many are reachable by night-trains.
- Join a rewilding community in your region.
- Organise small actions like fence removals in your region.
- Contribute to free-flowing rivers in Europe by mapping obsolete barriers with the AMBER app.
- Become a wilderness guide.