DOCSLIB.ORG

Analysis of the Costs and Benefits of Alternative Solutions for Restoring Biodiversity

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Analysis of the Costs and Benefits of Alternative Solutions for Restoring Biodiversity ANALYSIS OF THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR RESTORING BIODIVERSITY Defra Competition Code: WC0758/CR0444 BUILDING AND EVALUATING ALTERNATIVE MANAGEMENT SCENARIOS Appendix 1 to Final report to Defra - December 2010 . Hodder, KH; Douglas S; Newton, A; Bullock, JM; Scholefield, P.; Vaughan, R. Cantarello, E; Birch, J. Contact: Dr Kathy H. Hodder CCEEC, School of Conservation Sciences Talbot Campus Bournemouth University Talbot Campus Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB Tel: 01202 966784, Fax: 01202 965046 Mobile: 07905 161180 [email protected] 1 CONTENTS 1. CREATING SCENARIO MAPS ....................................................................................................................3 2. VALUATION APPROACH FOR THE SELECTED ECOSYSTEM SERVICES.....................................3 2.1 FOOD , RAW MATERIALS /F IBRE , AND FUEL / ENERGY ..................................................................................3 2.2 FRESH WATER PROVISION .............................................................................................................................5 2.3 CARBON STORAGE ........................................................................................................................................5 2.4 FLOOD PROTECTION ......................................................................................................................................7 2.5 RECREATION /TOURISM .................................................................................................................................9 2.6 AESTHETIC BENEFITS ..................................................................................................................................11 3. VALUATION APPROACH FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION .................................................12 3.1 AREA OF PRIORITY HABITAT .......................................................................................................................13 3.2 ECOLOGICAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................13 3.3 CONNECTIVITY ...........................................................................................................................................15 4. ASSESSMENT OF COSTS ...........................................................................................................................17 4.1 PRODUCTION COSTS ....................................................................................................................................17 4.2 IMPLEMENTATION AND RUNNING COSTS .....................................................................................................17 4.3 OPPORTUNITY COSTS ..................................................................................................................................18 5. THE CASE STUDIES ....................................................................................................................................19 5.1 WILD ENNERDALE ......................................................................................................................................19 5.2 THE GREAT FEN PROJECT ...........................................................................................................................33 5.3 HEATHER AND HILLFORTS PROJECT ............................................................................................................45 5.4 THE KNEPP WILDLAND PROJECT ................................................................................................................54 5.5 PUMLUMON PROJECT ..................................................................................................................................66 5.6 FROME CATCHMENT ....................................................................................................................................81 2 1. Creating scenario maps The scenarios were created in ArcGIS in collaboration with case study representatives: full details are given in section 5. The pre-project scenarios were made by reference to existing vegetation survey, such as NVC survey or remotely sensed land cover data. Mapping the future scenarios then involved modification of the existing maps using a combination of stewardship and management plans or strategy documents, where available, and expert opinion. 2. Valuation approach for the selected ecosystem services Where possible, the values were mapped to land-use / land-cover (henceforth ‘land cover’) for the scenarios, enabling visualisation of differences. While many recent studies have provided ecosystem service valuation (Natural England 2009a; O'Gorman & Bann 2008b; Tinch & Provins 2007b), there are few examples where the spatial dimension has been considered in detail. Mapping these values is a relatively novel approach and is important because benefits are not uniformly produced or used across the landscape. 2.1 Food, Raw materials /Fibre, and Fuel / Energy These three benefit categories can be assessed using market price because they are tangible goods, frequently traded in established markets, with observed or estimated market prices. The approach has been widely adopted and advocated (Chan et al. 2006; Christie et al. 2008; Kettunen et al. 2009a; Natural England 2009a; Nelson et al. 2009; Pascual et al. 2010). However, a number of caveats should be considered when using market price. Firstly, it has been suggested that valuation should be based on sustainable production/extraction only, so that value is not ascribed to goods harvested at unsustainable levels incurring more damage to the ecosystem than they are worth (Eftec & Just Ecology 2005a; Kettunen et al. 2009a). This is a valid position: however, determining the sustainability of each benefit would be an enormous task, prone to difficult and potentially subjective decisions. Therefore, this has not been adopted. Secondly, market price may underestimate values because the price a consumer pays for a good or service is a minimum expression of their willingness to pay - i.e. consumer surplus is not accounted for (Eftec 2006b; O'Gorman & Bann 2008b). Currently though, the lack of reliable and locally relevant data on willingness to pay make market price a better choice of method. Finally, market prices can be distorted through monopoly, government intervention, taxes, subsidies, and so on (Eftec 2006b; Kettunen et al. 2009a). As this study is based on comparisons between scenarios this issue is of reduced importance. If comparisons were to be made between services within each site it should be given greater consideration. Method Valuation methods were developed for the food and fibre categories using a combination of site- based and UK standard or generalised data sources. The fuel and energy category was investigated but there was insufficient data available in the case studies to enable quantitative evaluation. (i) Food Recorded or predicted crop and dairy yields, and livestock number, were sourced for most scenarios. Ideally, locally available prices and production costs of these services would also be 3 used. However, as there may be many products, produced by different means, by a large number of land managers, the local pricing approach was not feasible for some of the case studies, especially those covering a large area with complex ownership. Instead, our method used net standard values, giving a generalised estimate, which has reduced accuracy, but is valid for comparisons of relative values between scenarios. Estimates based on local monetary data were also made where possible, enabling comparison of the conclusions reached using the two approaches. For all data, yield or stock was given a value using the net market price. (ii) Fibre / Raw materials This service generally equates to timber, although reed production may also become a factor on the wetland site (Great Fen). Timber products may be recorded as both stock and yield, where data are available, and costs were subtracted to give a net value as above. Local sources such as farm business plans, forest design plans, and site management plans were used in consultation with local experts to assess production. (iii) Fuel / Energy The potential for development of fuels is acknowledged at the sites but there is currently not sufficient data for any quantitative evaluation. Values are available for quantity of hydroelectricity produced in two of the sites, Pumlumon and Ennerdale (although in Ennerdale it is negligible as it is only produced by 3 properties) so this does give an indication of the relative importance of this service; however, the potential impacts of land cover changes on production would be too complex to model. Local pricing Local pricing gave values for the business as usual scenarios and also projections for the landscape-scale scenarios. Annual yield or stock data was compiled from site-based sources. This was expressed as a net value per hectare in each land cover category where the benefit is produced by subtracting the variable production costs for each service. For some benefits, such as timber production, the yield will typically vary conspicuously due to extraction or production variation between years. In these cases estimates of an appropriate yield were based on a mean figure over a time period appropriate to that crop and site. Where possible, spatially variable costs were also be factored into the assessment to avoid overestimations of value. UK standard pricing For crops, livestock
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Rewilding: New Constructions of Nature in Conservation Biology, the Knepp Castle Estate, West Sussex
    Rewilding: New Constructions of Nature in Conservation Biology, the Knepp Castle Estate, West Sussex. Candidate Number: 53052 Examination Year: 2009 Word Count: 11 820 Candidate Number: 53052 Rewilding: New Constructions of Nature in Conservation Biology, the Knepp Castle Estate, West Sussex. Abstract This dissertation explores the application of the concept that nature is a “profoundly human construction” (Cronon 1996 p.25) to the recent paradigm shift in conservation biology (Taylor 2005); that is, the new constructions of nature involved within rewilding. Foucault argued all “knowledge is relative” (Darier 1999 p.10), therefore, as we look at nature, we do not see it as it is (Castree 2005). Instead we construct nature through our cultural lenses. Foucault explored how discourses are productive as the inherent power within them disciplines our actions (Darier 1999). Thus conservation does not preserve true nature for the future, rather, it constructs a future nature based on the current discourses within conservation biology. Therefore gaining a full understanding of the implications of the current paradigm shift within conservation biology is vital. Essentially this dissertation fills that gap: questioning the tangled web of the discourse of rewilding, both its idealised dream and its reality in practice, and the limits of the discourse, how it interacts with other constructions and the past paradigm within conservation. Rewilding has been pioneered by Frans Vera in the Netherlands on the Oostvaardersplassen. It is based on Vera’s hypothesis that the European pre-human landscape was not a closed highforest but a wood-pasture driven by megafaunal herbivores which encouraged biodiversity (Vera 2000).
    [Show full text]
  • VCA Proposal Knepp Castle Estate Wildland Project
    VCA Proposal – Knepp Castle Estate Wildland Project A. Executive Summary The Knepp Castle Wildland Project is one the largest rewilding projects in lowland Europe, using a mix of grazing herbivores and the naturalisation of river and water systems to kick-start natural processes. Begun in 2001, the project has seen extraordinary successes in terms of both biodiversity and biomass. It is now considered a breeding hotspot for numerous rare species, including turtle doves, nightingales and purple emperor butterflies. An ecological baseline survey was undertaken in 2005, which provides a rare opportunity to monitor the changes in nature as result of the removal of previous farming and forestry practices. A first evaluation was made in 2015 though the results are not yet available. However the annual monitoring of flora and fauna already indicates a positive response to the rewilding efforts. The previous regime of mixed dairy and arable farming was proving to be highly unprofitable. Since switching to rewilding the estate’s landholding now makes a profit. B. Area Characteristics & Manager The Knepp Estate lies 45 miles from the centre of London in the heart of the Low Weald, an area of heavy clay soils. The Estate is criss crossed by Streams and rivers with large water bodies a lot of which have been restored to their floodplains. The Estate is 1400 ha Knepp Castle Estate comprises 1,400-hectares (3,500 acres) in the Low Weald in West Sussex in the southeast of England. The estate originates in the Middle Ages as one of King John’s hunting parks. It has been intensively farmed since the Second World War, with increasing chemical inputs since the 1970s.
    [Show full text]
  • Rewilding As a Restoration Strategy for Lowland Agricultural Landscapes: Stakeholder- Assisted Multi-Criteria Analysis in Dorset, UK
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Bournemouth University Research Online Rewilding as a restoration strategy for lowland agricultural landscapes: stakeholder- assisted multi-criteria analysis in Dorset, UK Arne F. Lotha1, Adrian C. Newtona aFaculty of Science & Technology, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, United Kingdom Corresponding author: Arne F. Loth, [email protected] 1 Present address: A41 San Remo Towers, Sea Road, Bournemouth, BH5 1JR, United Kingdom 1 Abstract 2 The ongoing loss of global biodiversity suggests that established conservation practices have 3 not been fully successful at halting species decline. Rewilding, a restoration strategy focused 4 on restoring ecological processes, has become increasingly prominent as a potential means 5 of addressing this problem. Rewilding has been described as a versatile approach that is 6 applicable even in areas with dense human populations and productive agricultural 7 landscapes such as the lowlands of Western Europe. Yet little is known about the options 8 that might exist for rewilding such landscapes, or about their relative suitability. The present 9 study addresses this knowledge gap by assessing the relative popularity and suitability of 10 different rewilding scenarios in the county of Dorset, south-west England, involving the 11 consultation of local stakeholders. Survey results showed strong support for rewilding 12 among stakeholders, with the reintroduction of beavers (Castor fiber) and pine martens 13 (Martes martes) being especially popular. Yet stakeholder perceptions also differed 14 regarding how rewilding should be defined, and what it comprises. The suitability of the 15 proposed rewilding approaches was measured through a spatial multi-criteria analysis using 16 the following variables: popularity among stakeholders, suitability within relevant land cover 17 types, and suitability at the landscape-scale.
    [Show full text]
  • Knepp Castle Estate Wildland Project Conservation Area Audit for VCA
    Knepp Castle Estate Wildland Project Conservation Area Audit for VCA 1. INTRODUCTION Executive Summary The Knepp Castle Wildland Project is one the largest rewilding projects in lowland Europe, using a mix of grazing herbivores and the naturalisation of river and water systems to kick-start natural processes and monitor the response of plant and animal species. Begun in 2001, the project has seen extraordinary successes in terms of both biodiversity improvements and biomass. It has also led the way in elucidating and incorporating the economics of wildland restoration into Estate management practice in the densely populated lowlands of Western Europe. It has pioneered change from intensive farming practices to low intensity sustainable production of organic meat products, sustainable tourism and associated employment opportunities alongside wildland conservation. In making the underlying financial information freely available and in presenting the underlying costs and benefits of change, Knepp underpins our understanding of wildland economics and has inspired change and innovation in many other landscapes across the UK. Knepp Wildland is now considered a breeding hotspot for numerous rare species, including turtle doves, nightingales and purple emperor butterflies, all of which are in steep decline across the surrounding landscape. An ecological baseline survey, considered one of the most comprehensive of any comparable project, was undertaken in 2005, and this provides a rare opportunity to monitor the changes in nature resulting from the removal of previous farming and forestry practices. A first comprehensive evaluation was made in 2015 with an analysis of results expected in early 2017. However the annual monitoring of flora and fauna already clearly indicates a positive and encouraging response to the rewilding efforts.
    [Show full text]
  • Knepp Wildland Project Annual Biodiversity Report and Monitoring
    Knepp Wildland Project Annual biodiversity report and monitoring update 2009 Theresa Greenaway November 2009 Theresa Greenaway Ecological Consultant Woodcote, Chalk Road Ifold West Sussex RH14 0UE [email protected] Knepp Wildland Project Annual biodiversity report and monitoring update 2009 Contents 1. Introduction 2. Field work 3. Summary of surveys 3.1. Fauna 3.1.1. Bat survey 3.1.2. Breeding bird survey 3.1.3. BTO breeding bird survey (TQ1520). 3.1.4. Barn owl survey 3.1.5. Grey partridge 3.1.6. Butterfly & moth surveys 3.1.7. Other invertebrates 3.2. Flora 3.2.1. Ragwort monitoring 3.2.2. Lichens 3.3. Habitat and Vegetation structure 3.3.1. Fixed-point photography 3.3.2. Woody seedling & browsing 3.3.3. Hedge survey 3.3.4. Veteran trees 4. Incidental species records 5. Discussion References Appendix 2 Annual biodiversity report and monitoring update 2009 1. Introduction This year marked the expansion of grazing into the southwest corner of Knepp Castle Estate. An additional 445ha was fenced in spring 2009, following which 53 head of cattle were put on at the end of May, 10 Exmoor ponies at the end of August and some 20 Tamworth pigs in September. Pigs and deer will probably be able to wander into and out of this area using a passage under the road at Tenchford Bridge. The fencing was funded by Natural England. Progress was also made towards the long-awaited re-naturalisation of the Knepp stretch of the River Adur. An EIA for this restoration has been produced by the Environment Agency (Sykes & Lewis 2009).
    [Show full text]
  • Number 60 £2.00 Autumn/Winter 2015-16 TWO
    Number 60 £2.00 SURREYSkipper Autumn/Winter 2015-16 TWO Members’ Days Nov 14 – National Nov 21 – Surrey Butterfly Surrey & SW London Conservation branch magazine 2 Surrey Skipper Contents Chairman ........................3 Field Trips reports ........18 Picture Gallery ..............37 Members’ Day..................4 Adonis sculpture............21 New Members................38 Glanville Fritillary ..........6 Black Hairstreak ..........22 Weather Watch ..............38 Oaken Wood ....................7 Wood White..............centre New Members’ Day ......39 Steve Wheatley ..............8 Knepp Wildland ............29 Email appeal ..................40 Surrey Atlas ....................9 Our Garden....................30 Treasurer........................42 Regional Action Plan ....10 Oaken Wood transect....32 Accounts ........................43 Social Media ..................11 Abundance trends ........34 Legacies ..........................44 Transects ........................12 UK transects 2014 ........35 Minutes: 2014 AGM......45 iRecord ..........................14 Fundraising....................35 Mick Rock......................46 Website ..........................15 Moth-trapping ..............36 Committee......................47 Small Blue round-up ....16 Friends of Box Hill........36 Awesome foursome ....back Surrey Skipper Spring/Summer edition includes the new season’s field trips. Autumn/Winter edition previews the annual Members’ Day. Copy deadline Published Spring Feb 21 March Autumn Sep 18 October I Thank you to all who have
    [Show full text]
  • Woodwise, Woods in Waiting, Autumn 2020
    Wood Wise WOODS IN WAITING Tree and woodland conservation • Autumn 2020 ADVANTAGES NATURAL EVIDENCE ON UNLEASHING AND CHALLENGES REGENERATION LARGE-SCALE THE POTENTIAL OF NATURAL PROMOTES WOODLAND OF NATURAL REGENERATION ADAPTATION EXPANSION EXPANSION CONTENTS 3 4 6 6 10 16 20 24 26 3 Natural regeneration in dynamic woods and landscapes 4 Forging a new path 6 Natural regeneration: history, ecology and the importance of meaning 10 Breaking down barriers 16 Natural regeneration promotes genetic adaptation 20 A wilder approach – what works? 24 What’s stopping natural expansion? 26 A framework for quality woodland creation Subscribe to Wood Wise by emailing [email protected] We will keep your details safe and never Editors: Karen Hornigold and Christine Reid sell them: woodlandtrust.org.uk/privacy- Contributors: Charlie Burrell, Jonathan Spencer, Emma policy explains all. You can change the way Goldberg, Joan Cottrell, Rebecca Wrigley, Ben McCarthy you hear from us at any time – just email [email protected] and Saul Herbert or call 0330 333 3300. Designers: Greg Durose and Jennie Clegg Cover photo: Charlie Burrell, Knepp Wildland 2 Wood Wise • Tree and woodland conservation • Autumn 2020 Natural regeneration in dynamic woods and landscapes Abi Bunker As we face twin crises of climate change make a difference. In a time of ever-increasing need, and biodiversity loss, the Woodland Trust’s and competition, for vital funding for our natural environment, creating the conditions for trees to approach to woodland conservation and recolonise can be highly cost-effective. However, there expansion adapts both by necessity and is currently no grant support to help landowners design and based on the latest science and utilise natural regeneration, highlighting the need for evidence.
    [Show full text]
  • Knepp Exmoor Project - Exmoor Herd Strategy
    Knepp Exmoor Project - Exmoor Herd Strategy Rina Quinlan, Version 1, 31 December 2019 Introduction Knepp Wildlands is a pioneering rewilding project consisting of 3,500 acres of former arable and dairy farmland in the Sussex low weald. With farming pressures removed, the estate has been returned to nature and is transforming to a self-willed ecosystem. In order to restore natural processes, large herbivores have been reintroduced, acting as proxies for missing species that would have been abundant in the past. These ‘ecosystem drivers’ cause natural disturbance and create a mosaic of habitats by grazing, browsing, trampling and rootling through the soil and vegetation as well as dispersing nutrients and seeds. Three species of deer, cattle, horses and pigs roam the estate freely, each acting in a different way to one another to impact the environment. The Knepp Estate is split geographically into three different blocks, southern, middle and northern and historical use, herbivore assemblage and methodology of restoration has meant each block is unique in both habitat and aesthetic value. Presently a herd of purebred Exmoor ponies acting as proxies for the extinct wild horse, the tarpan, are kept in the middle block, which supports a Repton park like landscape. Knepp would like to expand this pedigree herd of 19, which is made up of a stallion and 11 mares with seven 2019 foals at foot; as well as introducing further horses into the southern block, a site they formally occupied, which hosts a mosaic of thorny scrub, open pasture and woody groves. Public bridleways and permissive riding paths run throughout the estate and consequently Knepp has to ensure that care is taken to monitor the herds behaviour around ridden horses.
    [Show full text]
  • Knepp Wildland Project Annual Biodiversity
    Knepp Wildland Project Annual biodiversity report and monitoring update 2013 Purple Emperor Neil Hulme Theresa Greenaway December 2013 Theresa Greenaway Ecological Consultant Knepp Castle Estate [email protected] Contents 1. Introduction 2. Summary of surveys 3. Recording weekend 4. Fauna 4.1. Breeding bird survey 4.2. BTO Breeding bird survey 4.3. Barn owl survey 4.4. Winter thrush survey 4.5. Nightingales and the Wildland Project – a thesis 4.6. Re-wilding and birds of conservation concern – a thesis 4.7. Yellowhammers and re-wilding – a thesis 4.8. Reptile survey 4.9. Butterfly surveys 4.9.1. Northern and Middles Block 4.9.2. Southern Block timed count surveys 4.9.3. Purple Emperor survey 4.9.4. Brown hairstreak survey 4.10. Earthworm abundance and the impact of pigs – a thesis 5. Flora 5.1. Ragwort survey 5.2. Common fleabane 5.3. Sussex Botanical recording Society report 5.4. Bryophyte survey 6. Incidental species records 7. Discussion References Knepp Wildland Project Annual biodiversity report and monitoring update 2013 1. Introduction The Knepp Wildland Project continues to thrive, and despite one of the coldest springs on record, surveillance and monitoring of the flora and fauna benefiting from wildland management is really starting to show positive results. As in previous years, the monitoring of breeding birds, butterflies and ragwort has been repeated, and there have been a number of more casual observations. Perhaps the biggest single event was the recording weekend organised by Penny Green (Manager, Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre), which took place on 1st & 2nd June 2013, when many keen recorders descended on Knepp to make a note of everything that grew, flew or scuttled.
    [Show full text]
  • Wilding : the Return of Nature to a British Farm
    ISABELLA TREE WILDING The return of nature to a British farm For Charlie and our children, Nancy and Ned What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘Inversnaid’, 1881 ‘You may expel Nature with a pitchfork but she will always return’ Horace, Epistles I , 20 BC (quoted by Jeeves to Wooster in The Love that Purifies by P. G. Wodehouse, 1929) The cowman who clears his range of wolves has not learned to think like a mountain. Hence we have dustbowls and rivers washing the future into the sea. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac , 1949 Contents Timeline Map of the Knepp estate Introduction 1. Meeting a Remarkable Man under a Remarkable Tree 2. At Odds with Everything 3. The Serengeti Effect 4. The Secret of Grazing Animals 5. A World of Wood Pasture 6. Wild Ponies, Pigs and Longhorn Cattle 7. Creating a Mess 8. Living with the Yellow Peril 9. Painted Ladies and the Perfect Storm 10. Purple Emperors 11. Nightingales 12. Turtle Doves 13. Rewilding the River 14. Bringing Back the Beaver 15. Pasture-fed 16. Rewilding the Soil 17. The Value of Nature Appendix: Knepp Wildland Advisory Board Sources Bibliography Acknowledgements Index Also by Isabella Tree Timeline 12th century William de Braose (1144–1211), lord of the Rape of Bramber, builds the motte and bailey keep, now known as Old Knepp Castle. 1206–15 King John visits Knepp on several occasions to hunt fallow deer and wild boar.
    [Show full text]
  • Shipley Parish News
    Shipley Parish News Shipley Arts Festival White Storks music: Andrew Bernardi and Helen Ottaway at Knepp Castle August and September 2020 Shipley Parish News COVID-19 Restrictions THE CHURCH IS OPEN FOR SUNDAY SERVICES AND OTHERWISE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY We are once more holding Sunday Services at 10am. We are following Government guidance on social distancing measures but we are a big church and we would love to see you there. At this time we are unable to leave the church open during the day but if you would like some time for private prayer and reflection we are running an appointment system for now. If you wish to come and prayer please contact the Church Wardens at [email protected] and they will arrange a time to unlock the Church for you. There are many online resources, please go to: www.shipley.church (where we will make regular updates on what is happening at Shipley, including a weekly “Sermon” to ponder.) AChurchNearYou.com (run by the Church of England) https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/c oronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches#na to find online resources for Prayer. Also please remember while you might be isolating yourself from others you are never alone. If you need practical help, or just someone to talk to please contact [email protected] or phone 07720 288 807 Gavin Kenny Richard Killner Church Wardens 2 Website edition: August and September 2020 Parish directory Church Gavin Kenny T: 01403 734387 Wardens Meadowcroft, Polecat Lane, E: [email protected] Copsale, RH13 6QR Richard Killner
    [Show full text]
  • Rewilding and Ecosystem Services
    POSTNOTE Number 537 September 2016 Rewilding and Ecosystem Services Overview Rewilding aims to restore natural processes that are self-regulating, reducing the need for human management of land. Few rewilding projects are underway, and there is limited evidence on their impacts. Rewilding may provide ecosystem services such as flood prevention, carbon storage and recreation. It often has low input costs, but can still benefit biodiversity. Some valued and protected priority habitats such as chalk grassland currently depend on agricultural practices like grazing. This POSTnote explores the consequences of Rewilding may not result in such habitats. increasing the role of natural processes within No government policy refers explicitly to landscapes. Evidence from the UK and abroad rewilding, but it has the potential to suggests that rewilding can benefit both wildlife complement existing approaches to meet and local people, but animal reintroductions commitments on habitat restoration. could adversely affect some land-users. What is Rewilding? Rewilding and Current Conservation Practice There is no single definition of rewilding, but it generally UK landscapes have been managed to produce food and refers to reinstating natural processes that would have wood for millennia, and 70% of land is currently farmed.9 occurred in the absence of human activity.1,2 These include €3bn per year is spent on environmental management of vegetation succession, where grasslands develop into farmland across the EU.10,11 This includes maintaining wetlands or forests, and ecological disturbances caused by wildlife habitats on farmland such as heathland and chalk disease, flooding, fire and wild herbivores (plant eaters). grassland, which involves traditional agricultural practices Initially, natural processes may be restored through human such as fire and grazing.12,13 Rewilding involves ecological interventions such as tree planting, drainage blocking and restoration (the repair of degraded ecosystems),14 and reintroducing “keystone species”3,4 like beavers.
    [Show full text]