Biodiversity essential for humanity: trend reversal within reach

In the wake of Cop15, rewilding has returned to center stage, with projects all over the world, from the reintroduction of bison in the UK to the return of the jaguar to Argentina, from the spread of wild horses and eagles in the Netherlands to the launch of the tenth Rewilding Europe project, with the return of the lynx to the plateau east of Madrid. Rewilding Europe, founded in 2011 by four long-time conservationists, is an NGO based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, which works to restore some European landscapes to their natural state, expanding wildlife, in order to have a positive impact on the climate and encourage biodiversity.

The group’s efforts have helped increase the population of endangered species such as the European bison and the Iberian lynx, gradually expanding their impact across ten geographic areas spread across 12 European countries, from the Scottish Highlands to the Rhodope Mountains between Bulgaria and Greece, for the Central Apennines. In Italy, Rewilding Europe is working with local partners, under the leadership of Mario Cipollone, to develop five large “coexistence corridors” covering over 100,000 hectares and linking the national parks of Abruzzo, Molise, Lazio and Majella to the Regional Park Sirente Velino, all areas where the Marsican brown bear is the most iconic species.

The goal is to support the wildlife within the corridors, so as to increase their abundance in the parks, reducing the damage caused by animals and allowing local communities to benefit. Field actions focus on reducing bear mortality, promoting coexistence, supporting nature-based businesses around corridor areas, and raising awareness of local communities and people who visit these areas.

These renaturalization efforts will not be able to repair the immeasurable damage inflicted on nature by Europeans over the centuries, but they aim to stabilize a balance, bridging biodiversity losses where possible, bearing in mind that agriculture is the main engine of the destruction of natural ecosystems and that, thanks to the breeding of cattle for slaughter, now 96% of mammals on earth are livestock or humans and only 4% are wild animals.

To limit the damage, some draw inspiration from the past, with the practice of regenerative agriculture or the exploitation of ancient irrigation systems. Others are looking ahead, adopting innovative conservation measures, such as spreading green roofs to promote the repopulation of pollinating insects or using artificial intelligence to monitor whales. Overall, the history of the relationship between humanity and the natural world is not a good one.