What is rewilding?

You might have heard your grandparents lament about how the greenery in your town has been replaced by buildings. They might have even shared their concern over rising pollution and missing birds and insects in the neighbourhood. The environment they grew up in has disappeared and what we are left with is just a concrete jungle.

Human settlements and urbanization have rapidly transformed the planet in the last few decades. The activities have greatly deteriorated the environment and wildlife. Climate change, global warming, habitat loss and pollution have pushed many species of plants and animals to the brink of extinction. And scientists and conservationists are now advocating several restoration efforts, chief among them being rewilding.

Rewilding is the reintroduction of locally extinct plants and animals to a landscape where they have the potential to restore ecosystems. It is a potential to restore ecosystems. It is a progressive approach to conservation – it’s about letting Nature take care of itself, by enabling natural processes repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes.

Two types of rewilding

Passive rewilding focuses on reducing human intervention in the ecosystem and letting Nature recover and flourish on its own. It involves giving cultivated land back to Nature.

Translocation rewilding involves reintroduction of species. It is the deliberate release of a species from captivity or other areas into the wild, where the organism is capable of survival. Also called trophic rewilding, it focuses on re-establishing large-bodied animals or megafauna. Trophic rewilding aids in the restoration of balance in the entire ecosystem.

Picture Credit : Google

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