Edited by Nathalie Pettorelli (Institute of Zoology, London), Sarah M. Durant (Institute of Zoology, London) and Johan T. du Toit (Utah State University), “Rewilding” was published in January 2019. Vance Russell, Ecosulis Biodiversity Lead, shares his thoughts on the new book.
Recommended: if you want an encyclopaedic tome offering a smorgasbord of rewilding essays focused on the UK and Europe.
Not recommended: if you want an insightful and entertaining story about the journey a landowner experiences while rewilding their land.
Scotland is an area of the UK where rewilding principles could really be applied at landscape scale. Photo: Daniel Allen
I decided to give Rewilding, by Nathalie Pettorelli, Sarah Durant and Johan du Toit, a read when I saw an enthusiastic tweet from Chris Sandom(@naturebased) about receiving his new copy of the book. By the time I’d finished, the book had encouraged me to think about rewilding in a partially new and unexpected light – especially from a sociological viewpoint. The authors set out to publish a scientific tome written by leaders in the field, including both social and ecological perspectives on the emerging field of rewilding. In this they have largely succeeded, but some may find the approach overly academic.
Pettorelli et al. cover a broad sweep of topics, including trophic rewilding, technology, psychology, art, land abandonment, carnivore reintroduction, management and conservation evidence/auditing. The authors have created an authoritative, wide-ranging text, although there are some missing elements and the chapters could be organised better.
As Chris Sandom inferred in his tweet, this would be an excellent book for a class or seminar on rewilding. My first recommendation is don’t be put off by the cover photo. Quite what a fox on a doorstep has to do with rewilding is anybody’s guess. Once you get around to opening it, read the chapters that take your fancy, or go experience some of the places and projects described and learn the field first-hand!
But back to the content. Definitions! “Rewilding’” is defined multiple times during the book, perhaps because the term means so many different things to so many different people. Rewilding is exciting, definitions…not so much. However, Durant et al. (Chapter 20) provide an inclusive and hopeful meaning to rewilding, when they state:
“…rewilding can be identified in purely ecological terms, but the concept has the capacity for delivering something bigger and more multidimensional… Rewilding could become a pragmatic approach to conservation that is inclusive of people, is forward-looking and is dynamic and adaptable.”
It is with this new hope for conservation in the face of climate breakdown, rapid deforestation and species loss that this rewilding book provides a narrative of optimism and opportunity from multiple perspectives. This leads me to what I really enjoyed about Rewilding.