TY - JOUR

T1 - Rewilding – Departures in Conservation Policy and Practice? An Evaluation of Developments in Britain

AU - Wynne-Jones, Sophie

AU - Strouts, Graham

AU - O'Neil, Callum

AU - Sandom, Chris

PY - 2020/4

Y1 - 2020/4

N2 - Rewilding has been hailed as ‘radical’ and ‘agenda-setting’ in the challenge it poses to mainstream conservation.This paper questions whether that is still the case, or if rewilding is now being mainstreamed and with whatconsequences? Our analysis focuses upon developments in Britain, up until 2018, discussing what changes havebecome manifest and the barriers and restraints that have been observed. As such, we evaluate the extent to whichrewilding – in practice - departs from longstanding conservation sensibilities. Discussion is structured around threekey questions— Who is now involved in rewilding across Britain? What they are seeking to do, in terms of hownature is conceptualised and managed (or not)? In what ways do their objectives involve people and human-centredaspirations? Our findings reveal three key differences from current conservation approaches. First, rewilding isassociated with a proliferation of new actors, new mechanisms of finance and new spaces of conservation interest.Second, rewilding as an approach exhibits clear novelty in its stated aim to be nature-led and, despite challenges,attempts to work through ongoing negotiation and experimentation. Finally, rewilding is currently being advocatedand pursued as an agenda for people and nature, which moves beyond earlier nature conservation paradigms ofprotecting nature from human influence. However, it remains to be seen whether rewilding advocates can realisetheir ambitions to popularise and create peopled wild spaces across Britain’s landscapes.

AB - Rewilding has been hailed as ‘radical’ and ‘agenda-setting’ in the challenge it poses to mainstream conservation.This paper questions whether that is still the case, or if rewilding is now being mainstreamed and with whatconsequences? Our analysis focuses upon developments in Britain, up until 2018, discussing what changes havebecome manifest and the barriers and restraints that have been observed. As such, we evaluate the extent to whichrewilding – in practice - departs from longstanding conservation sensibilities. Discussion is structured around threekey questions— Who is now involved in rewilding across Britain? What they are seeking to do, in terms of hownature is conceptualised and managed (or not)? In what ways do their objectives involve people and human-centredaspirations? Our findings reveal three key differences from current conservation approaches. First, rewilding isassociated with a proliferation of new actors, new mechanisms of finance and new spaces of conservation interest.Second, rewilding as an approach exhibits clear novelty in its stated aim to be nature-led and, despite challenges,attempts to work through ongoing negotiation and experimentation. Finally, rewilding is currently being advocatedand pursued as an agenda for people and nature, which moves beyond earlier nature conservation paradigms ofprotecting nature from human influence. However, it remains to be seen whether rewilding advocates can realisetheir ambitions to popularise and create peopled wild spaces across Britain’s landscapes.

KW - Rewilding, conservation governance, anthropocene, future-nature, biopolitics

U2 - 10.4103/cs.cs_19_32

DO - 10.4103/cs.cs_19_32

M3 - Article

VL - 18

SP - 89

EP - 102

JO - Conservation & Society

JF - Conservation & Society

SN - 0972-4923

IS - 2

ER -