Exmoor ponies on Somerleyton Estate. Photo Credit: Rebecca Branford for Mongabay
AnimalsEnvironment United KingdomA Rewilding Project Worth Three Big Apples
Among the many rewilding projects developed in the United Kingdom, one initiative in East Anglia aims at reforesting the equivalent of more than three times the size of New York City by 2070, thus answering the climate and biodiversity crises.
“Rewilding is large-scale nature restoration — or rather, large-scale restoration of ecosystems until the point when nature can look after itself again,” says Richard Bunting of Rewilding Britain, an independent charity. “Nature’s got into such a bad place that often [human] interventions are needed.”
A group of farming aristocrats joined forces to create WildEast, an ambitious project designed to create interconnecting wild corridors across Britain’s most intensely farmed region. Some 250,000 hectares will regain wilderness by 2070. Not only will the project benefit habitat restoration to counter the loss of species – such as wild ponies, wild pigs, and goats – it will also curb global warming thanks to “rich, natural, healthy ecosystems soaking up CO2 from the atmosphere, which is needed alongside reducing fossil fuel use.”