Rewilding and Ecological Restoration Strategies

Rewilding and ecological restoration encompass a suite of approaches aimed at repairing degraded landscapes, reinstating natural processes and bolstering biodiversity. While ecological restoration traditionally focuses on restoring ecosystems to a former reference state through active interventions—such as planting native species or removing invasive ones—rewilding emphasises process-led recovery. It seeks to reduce human management and reintegrate keystone species to re-establish trophic interactions and self-regulating dynamics. Both strategies operate across scales, from fragmented urban green spaces to extensive rural and abandoned terrains, and play a pivotal role in climate mitigation, carbon sequestration and the provision of ecosystem services. Successful initiatives hinge on adaptive frameworks that balance interventionist techniques with the promotion of ecological integrity, landscape connectivity and emergent complexity. Moreover, a growing emphasis on multifunctional landscapes acknowledges the need for reconciliation between conservation goals and socio-economic demands. Practical applications range from restoring forest mosaics and wetlands to reconnecting ecological corridors and reintroducing large herbivores or predators. As interest intensifies globally, research is refining the metrics of progress and clarifying policy frameworks to support inclusive, place-based governance and long-term resilience.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Rewilding and Ecological Restoration Strategies publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in rewilding and ecological restoration strategies across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Rewilding: A conservation approach that reduces human management and restores ecological processes by reintroducing keystone species and enabling natural dynamics.

Ecological restoration: Active interventions designed to assist the recovery of degraded ecosystems toward a defined reference state or level of functioning.

Ecosystem services: The benefits—such as carbon storage, water purification and pollination—that humans derive from healthy ecosystems.

Landscape connectivity: The extent to which the landscape facilitates movement of organisms and the flow of ecological processes.

Trophic rewilding: A subset of rewilding focused on re-establishing food-web interactions through the reintroduction or protection of species that regulate ecosystem structure and function.

Ecological integrity: The completeness and resilience of an ecosystem’s composition, structure and processes representative of its natural condition.

References

1. Exploring the implementation of rewilding in a British local authority: Overcoming challenges and maximising opportunities for landscape-scale management. Landscape and Urban Planning (2024).
2. Identifying urban rewilding opportunity spaces in a metropolis: Chongqing as an example. Ecological Indicators (2024).
3. Rewilding Abandoned Landscapes in Europe. Ecosystems (2012).