Ecological restoration or rewilding? Does it really matter?

Convery, Ian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2527-5660 (2023) Ecological restoration or rewilding? Does it really matter? In: 10th World Conference on Ecological Restoration (SER 2023), 26-30 September 2023, Darwin, Australia. (Unpublished) Full text not available from this repository.

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Abstract

The University of Cumbria's Professor Ian Convery presented at this Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) conference, which focused on the important and often neglected connection between culture and nature, including the role of restoration in enhancing and rebuilding that connection. Ian ran a symposium on restoration and rewilding with colleagues from AECOM and the Western Australia Biodiversity Science Institute (WABSI).

Abstract: To misquote Tolstoy* ‘the restoration family is all alike, but we all do restoration in our own way’. An important part of understanding the practice of rewilding is understanding its relationship to ecological restoration. Both practices aim to reverse ecological degradation and recover biodiversity, but until recently there has been little in the way of exchange or discussion between these ‘family members’. In this paper I will draw on the recent Routledge Rewilding handbook and globally endorsed principles for both ecological restoration and rewilding and explore the historical, philosophical and scientific antecedents of these closely related practices, and highlight how an effective and efficient path to ecological recovery may occur when the concepts (and practitioners) are more closely aligned.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Departments:	Institute of Science and Environment > Forestry and Conservation
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	14 Dec 2023 13:14
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2024 15:31
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7492