Rewilding

The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery

De: Cain Blythe, Paul Jepson

Narrado por: Robin Laing

Rewilding is the first popular book on the ground-breaking science behind the restoration of wild nature.

As ecologists Paul Jepson and Cain Blythe show, rewilding is a new and progressive approach to conservation, blending radical scientific insights with practical innovations to revive ecological processes, benefiting people as well as nature. With its sense of hope and purpose, rewilding is breathing new life into the conservation movement and enabling a growing number of people to enjoy thrilling wildlife experiences previously accessible only in remote wilderness reserves.

‘De-domesticated’ horses galloping across a Dutch ‘Serengeti’; beavers creating wetlands in the British countryside; giant tortoises restoring the wildlife of the Mauritian islands; perhaps one day even rhinos roaming the Australian outback - rewilding is full of exciting and inspirational possibilities.

©2020 Paul Jepson (P)2020 W F Howes

Revelations about attitudes toward rewinding.i

I very much enjoyed this work and the information transmitted was often fascinating. We have a way to go before this rewinding of the planet gains a solid foothold, and time is exactly what we lack.

Conservation Conundrum

There are a few facts that are incorrect about South Africa. For example, the private ownership of “game” dates back to the early 1970s and culminated in legislation that intrenched this view in 1991/2. This was before Mandela had any influence over legislation. The conundrum, however, is that much of the contents current conservation practices like the landscape approach (an old idea in relative terms), reintroduction and invasion biology already incorporate aspects of rewilding. In South Africa much land under game ranch management cannot be considered in terms conservation success which has more of an ancillary outcome. We (in SA) would consider the changing of land to a more natural state as rewilding, which is what was implied in the book anyway, sometimes! However, the rewilding as proposed by Soule’ requires the repopulating that simulate Pleistocene conditions which is impractical and a waste of money. The Dutch example in the text is a case in point. It is a novel island experiment that cannot function in isolation as a functional ecosystem. Rewilding cannot be considered a new way of looking at conservation but a concept that is additional to the toolbox. The book also does not address how financially sustainable rewilding areas will be. In Africa people want to develop and so if they are in a rewilded landscape how are they going to make a living on it?

Excellent Overview of Concept and Theory

Does an excellent job of communicating the principles of ecology that are foundational to rewilding, and the more nuanced aspects of it. 

Loved it!

The book tackles complex issues and science with conciseness and case studies. It's absolutely delightful and inspiring.

Game changer

A must read on rewilding. Two thoughtful gentlemen offering compelling evidence for hope with the environment

Exciting endeavors and prospective endeavors to re-wild our world

This book is full of exciting examples of how we can re-wild our world while coexisting with nature. It has a very balanced approach on the political issues of our day, and offers a number of solutions. Recommended read.

Really interesting

Book gives you a great overview of the history policy science of this new emergent tenant of restoration ecology. Lots of interesting points to think about.

pretentious policy pedal pushing is irksome in any accent

I never thought I’d dislike a Scottish accent until I listened to this book. I guess pretentious policy pedal pushing is irksome in any accent. I think what I find most distasteful about this book is that it is a fundraising pitch pretending to be objective. I really loathe manipulative subtext. I suppose after Feral by Monbiot, a more “well-rounded” and accessible, less sanctimonious approach was needed for garnering support for rewilding. I don’t even hate rewilding as a conservation strategy, but I do hate this book. Just pull up rewilding on Wikipedia if you’re that curious about it, save yourself a handful of hours.

overly optimistic

it's a decent enough intro to rewilding, but it lacks nuance and is overly optimistic. I'm not opposed to creating novel ecosystem if it preserves and increases ecosystem processes, but introducing species that are not native to an ecosystem or haven't existed in that ecosystem for several thousand years could result in the introduction of invasive species. lots of ecological modeling would need to be conducted to ensure native species don't decline.