Possible targets and endpoints for a rewilding strategy. Rewilding as a conservation approach has recently gained attraction. A rewilding strategy puts a strong focus on restoring ecosystem complexity (e.g., multi-aged forests), natural disturbance regimes (e.g., natural fires and floods) and trophic networks (e.g., bringing back large carnivores and herbivores).
Through this, rewilding seeks to bolster ecosystem resilience while at the same time protecting biodiversity. But what are appropriate baselines for evaluating natural conditions? What are possible targets and endpoints for a rewilding strategy? Will rewilding conflict with the protection of cultural landscapes and farmland biodiversity? And where in Sweden, and at which spatial scale, could rewilding visions be formulated and implemented?
This Wallenberg Seminar will bring together leading rewilding researchers, conservation scientists, and practitioners to discuss these questions and evalute which role rewilding could play in Swedish conservation policy and practice.
Chairperson: Professor Tobias Kümmerle, Head of Conservation Biogeography Lab, University of Berlin