Other Life Sciences Commons^™

The Differences Between Rewilding And Restoring An Ecologically Degraded Landscape, Johan T. Du Toit, Nathalie Pettorelli

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

1. Rewilding is a developing concept in ecosystem stewardship that involves reorganizing and regenerating wildness in an ecologically degraded landscape, with present and future ecosystem function being of higher consideration than historical benchmark conditions. This approach differs from ecosystem restoration but the two concepts are often conflated because (a) they both rely on similar management actions (at least initially) and (b) it can be erroneously assumed that they both aim for similar states of wildness.
2. Rewilding and restoring both influence biodiversity, and common management actions such as species reintroductions (e.g. beavers or wolves) can be integral to a rewilding project. However, …