Practicing ecologists Cain Blythe and Dr. Paul Jepson’s book ReWilding is a well documented text on ‘rewilding’, a process of restoring an area into its natural, wild, uncultivated state after it has been domesticated for years through farming or habitation, downgrading the earth.
Rewilding is an act of environmental protection and a conservation strategy based on “cores, corridors, and carnivores” (Soulé and Noss), essential at a time where forests and grasslands are decreasing at an alarming rate. This includes restoring large wilderness areas, introducing native apex predators and species of animals that have major interaction with the ecology to those areas, reintroduction of local plant species, dam removal and more.
The book has a detailed narration of successes that have been achieved in this field, the science behind the subject of rewilding, and its scope. It talks about the capability of herbivores to change the ecosystem of a place, just like carnivores. The herbivorous restore natural processes such as nutrients transport, along with creating natural disturbance in an ecosystem by “disruptive-fury-walking” in herds. ReWilding accounts for the scheme of letting large herbivores like Heck cattle out to the nature reserve in Oostvaardersplassen, Netherlands. They transformed the topography of that area making it a desirable blend of open ground and trees. The Mauritian tortoises have also been written about, who are now restoring the islands of the country by driving out non-native species of rabbits and goats. The population of previously endangered species is growing as a result of rewilding.
The authors are of the opinion that rewilding, a movement that falls within the general framework of restoration ecology, is a viable process that has now started in America and Europe. The contents of ReWilding make its readers refresh their memory about the environment they were in during their childhood and how it has changed in the present, and what made it change. It brings out the challenges faced by the ones who are at the forefront of this movement, and the need of politically powerful and wealthy people to support it. How restoring an ecosystem whose species have gone extinct is a particularly difficult task, with the added risk of one species omitting another, has also been discussed.
This admittedly “Eurocentric” book is ideal for anyone who is interested in the subject of conservation of ecology and environment. If you are a newbie in this field, you can try reading ReWilding as it gives a brief, to the point understanding of the base knowledge needed for you to grasp the concept of rewilding, a movement that could make real and better changes for the planet in the coming years; which is the need of the hour, considering the climate crisis and destruction of thousands of animal and plant species.
Get yourself a copy soon!
