https://phys.org/news/2024-08-european-landscape-rewilded.html
'Europe's abandoned farmlands could find new life through rewilding, a movement
to restore ravaged landscapes to their wilderness before human intervention. A
quarter of the European continent, 117 million hectares, is primed with
rewilding opportunities, researchers report August 15 in the journal
Current
Biology.
They provide a roadmap for countries to meet the 2030 European Biodiversity
Strategy's goals to protect 30% of land, with 10% of those areas strictly under
conservation.
The team found that 70% of the rewilding opportunities in Europe lie in colder
climates. Northern Europe—particularly Scandinavia, Scotland, and the Baltic
states—and several highland regions in the Iberian Peninsula show the greatest
potential.
"There are many areas in Europe that have a low enough human footprint, as well
as the presence of key animal species, to potentially be rewilded," says first
author and biogeographer Miguel B. Araújo of the National Museum of Natural
Sciences, CSIC, Spain, and the University of Évora, Portugal. "We also
highlight the need for different strategies depending on the conditions of each
region."
The researchers established criteria to determine areas with rewilding
potentials: extensive tracts of land, covering more than 10,000 hectares, with
little human disturbance that feature vital species. Based on the size of the
land and the types of animals that inhabit the area, they further identified
two strategies for rewilding—passive and active.
Passive rewilding relies on natural recolonization, where animals gradually
move back into abandoned areas on their own. The approach works best in regions
with a healthy population of key herbivores, such as deer, ibex, moose, and
rabbits, as well as carnivores, such as wolves, bears, and lynxes.
Regions without key herbivore or carnivore species would require active
rewilding by reintroducing the missing species to kickstart the ecosystem's
recovery. Both strategies aim to create a self-sustaining, biodiverse
landscape.'
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/60-ready/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
