Rewilding Britain is an organisation founded in 2015 that aims to promote the rewilding of Great Britain.[1][2] It is a registered charity in England, Wales and Scotland.[3][4]

Longhorn cattle at Knepp Wildland

History

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One of the people involved in setting up the charity was Guardian journalist and author George Monbiot who published Feral, a book about rewilding, in 2013.[5] Rewilding Britain has called for the reintroduction of predators such as lynx and wolves which were hunted to extinction in Britain centuries ago.[6] Its proposals have been often opposed by farmers.[2]

In 2018 the Prime Minister, Theresa May, launched a 25-year environmental plan which gave encouragement to Rewilding Britain by, for example, supporting the reintroduction of the beaver and recognising the pioneering achievements of the Knepp Wildland in lowland rewilding.[7]

In 2020, Rewilding Britain called for natural regeneration to be incentivised by the future Environmental Land Management Scheme and to be made the default approach to woodland creation unless trees are unable to establish or would take too long to arrive.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Boyd Tonkin (17 July 2015). "'Rewilding' would create a theme park, not a return to nature". The Independent.
  2. ^ a b "Re-introducing big predators wrong, says crofting federation". BBC News. 16 July 2015.
  3. ^ "Charity Overview". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Charity details". Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  5. ^ Piesing, Mark (3 October 2016). "George Monbiot on "rewilding" the countryside and the end of sheep". i. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  6. ^ David Miller (15 July 2015). "Call for lynx and wolf reintroduction". BBC News.
  7. ^ Wrigley; Driver. "25-year environment plan – is this a turning point for rewilding?". Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  8. ^ Barkham, Patrick (15 December 2020). "Restore UK woodland by letting trees plant themselves, says report". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
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