The UK campaign group Rewilding Nation, backed by the actor Leonardo DiCaprio, has raised £200k in just six days for Scotland to become the first Rewilding Nation in the world. The Scottish Rewilding Alliance, a coalition of more than 20 organisations including the Woodland Trust, RSPB Scotland and the Beaver Trust, is calling on the Scottish Government to commit to nature recovery across 30% of the country to benefit nature, climate and people.
“The outpouring of support for our ground-breaking Rewilding Nation campaign – through donations and by signing the Rewilding Nation Charter – shows how much Scotland’s rewilding journey is inspiring people from all walks of life,” said Kevin Cumming, Rewilding Britain’s Rewilding Director and steering group member of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance.
“Huge thanks to the thousands of people who have donated and signed the Charter. Scotland has a real moment of choice and opportunity here – offering hope for tackling the nature and climate emergencies, while creating a cascade of benefits for people and local communities. That includes better health, new jobs, food security, and healthy rivers and seas.”
Restoring natural habitats in Scotland
The Scottish Rewilding Alliance aims to showcase how rewilding offers hope for tackling biodiversity loss and climate breakdown while offering major social and economic benefits.
The funds raised will support outreach including community events, meetings with politicians and policymakers, a new community rewilding guide, and making the campaign widely accessible in Gaelic. There will be initiatives involving young people, many of whom say they are worried about the threats posed by the climate and nature emergencies.
Scotland is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Intensive agriculture and climate breakdown are having the biggest impacts on habitats and wildlife, with other threats including non-native forestry, pollution, and introduced species, research shows.
Rewilding 30% of Scotland can be achieved by restoring habitats including peatlands, native woodlands, wetlands, rivers and seas, with no loss of productive farmland, says the Alliance.
Rewilding – the debate
Rewilding Scotland is not a universal aim of everyone living and working in the Scottish countryside. One of the biggest issues is the level of uncertainty associated with the practice of reintroducing species into an area. The repercussions of reintroductions of once native species are not always fully understood in advance.
Take beavers as an example.
From 2009 to 2014 the Scottish Wildlife Trust played a major role in bringing beavers back to Scotland. European Beavers were reintroduced through the Scottish Beaver Trial in Knapdale, Mid Argyll. The Scottish Government gave them protected status and now we have beavers present in many of our river systems such as the Tay, the Tummel, the Earn and the Ericht. The argument for beavers is that they engineer water flow through their habitat. They can reduce water flow and be a lifeline for downstream communities. Their work encourages other wildlife in the ponds they help create behind their dams. Fish, insects and birdlife all benefit from the presence of beavers in local rivers and streams.
However, farmers, landowners and waterside house owners may tell a different tale.
Beavers-related tree cutting and dam building may result in flooding, habitat damage and safety concerns. Trees must be protected from damage in areas where beavers have moved in. Beaver dams can raise water levels which impacts on land drainage in low-lying floodplain pasture.
Beavers fell trees indiscriminately. This tests local commitment to rewilding when they fell a community’s apple trees or the trees planted by the riverside in commemoration to departed loved ones.
Beaver reintroduction has been a great success. They have spread far beyond Argyll and are now found throughout Scotland. In 2015 Scottish Natural Heritage commissioned a report on the potential colonisation of beavers following their reintroduction to Scotland. The model was used to predict the future growth of the beaver population in the Tayside region. With an estimated 2012 population of approximately 150 beavers, the model predicts the population will grow steadily by about 20 beavers per year and expand into 2km of territory per year.
Beavers are cute herbivores. Wait till we get to the carnivore stories surrounding lynx and wolves.
Scotland, the start of a rewilding journey
Leonardo DiCaprio’s interest in rewilding Scotland is commendable and I’m sure his 62 million followers and the 100 thousand who ‘liked’ his post supporting the idea of Scotland becoming the first Rewilding Nation were instrumental in raising the £200k as quickly as they did.
However, rewilding issues are very complicated. The Trees for Life invite for DiCaprio to visit the Charity’s Dundreggan estate is an interesting one. I hope that if he takes up this offer, he will also have the chance to meet members of Highland communities who have yet to be persuaded to embrace Rewilding as the answer to the economic prosperity it purports to be. Let’s hope Trees for Life can see the big picture and are not star-struck by Leonardo’s apparent interest in ecology and the survival economics of Scotland’s Highland communities.
Article based on a press release by Rewilding Britain.
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