Towards a European Policy for Rewilding

Abstract

Millions of hectares of agricultural land could be released from human pressure within the next decades in Europe. Rewilding presents a great opportunity to restore the abandoned landscapes, along with the biodiversity and the supply of those ecosystem services that were until now restricted to the remaining few wild areas of the continent. As a result, rewilding is in a dire need of a policy framework in the European Union, to promote its implementation as a land management option, to evaluate its outcomes, and to share knowledge and good practices among stakeholders. In this chapter, we review the history of conservation policies and protected areas in the EU, the implementation of the Natura 2000 Network being one of the major milestones. We also discuss the role of conservation in sectoral activities such as agriculture. We present the growing importance given to wilderness areas and the inclusion of wilderness management into European policies. We then evaluate the contribution of wilderness and rewilding to the achievement of global and EU targets. Finally, recommendations are made to efficiently and adequately include rewilding into the European framework of conservation policies.

Rewilding complex ecosystems

“…For instance, the European Union's common agricultural policy incentivizes agricultural activities in low-production areas, impeding opportunities for rewilding (130). Restoration policies often focus on the safeguarding of current or historical conditions (130) and the protection of certain species and habitats (24,130,131). Therefore, the successful contribution of rewilding to national and international biodiversity goals depends on policy changes that shift the conservation focus toward restoring the ecological processes identified in our framework (131).…”

Spatial Dynamic Modelling of Future Scenarios of Land Use Change in Vaud and Valais, Western Switzerland

“…According to [16] the increase of forest area along with the increase of temperature, will most probably raise the occurrences of fires in the regions located in Valais. Although the loss of extensive agriculture is also expected to be a threat to animal and plant species [13][14][15] , different studies suggest that extensive agriculture abandonment could allow the implementation of landscape planning strategies at lower costs [54,55]. Although care must be taken when using scenarios due to limitations on the explanatory power of the driving forces [28,31,34], as well as changes in government legislation and land management that impact land use change.…”

A commentary on rewilding in Europe

“…Two dimensions can be identified, the one focussed on conservation and the other set within wider agricultural and land use policies. In looking to create “an enabling policy environment” for rewilding within the European context, Jepson and Schepers () suggested “rewilding is the next logical step in an on‐going process of EU nature policy development” and they urged “policy makers to create spaces and partnerships to allow rewilding to gain traction as a complimentary conservation approach that will expand upon past achievements and refashion conservation in the 21 st century.” In a similar vein, Navarro and Pereira () claimed “rewilding will help policy makers in rethinking their relationship with nature.” More pointedly, Navarro and Pereira () argued that “rewilding research should aim at having three important impacts on policy makers: a conceptual impact (to change the way policy makers think), an instrumental impact (to directly influence existing policies and management) and a symbolic impact (to support established positions).”…”