It’s time we made ‘rewilding’ second nature for environmental policy

Learning to let nature take care of itself may well be one of the most important things we can do to combat human-made climate change, Enis Yucekoralp discovers

Storm Dennis was one of the most intense extratropical cyclones ever recorded (Getty)

We are in the midst of an environmental crisis, a climate emergency. We have reached a point where reducing carbon emissions is insufficient, we also have to remove carbon from the atmosphere. To protect our climate, decelerate the heating of the planet, and lock away carbon, nature remains our greatest ally.

With the planet’s health at stake it is imperative that we support conservationists lobbying governments to inject funding into ecological policy. One such project that has a global appeal but is pragmatically local in its focus is rewilding.

So, what exactly is rewilding? Speaking to Professor Alastair Driver, director of the charity Rewilding Britain, that is one of the points he is eager to clarify. Put simply, it is “the large-scale, long-term restoration of ecosystems to the points where nature is able to take care of itself, starting with reinstating natural processes. A marathon with a sprint start,” he tells me.