Agricultural wilding: rewilding for agricultural landscapes through an increase in wild productive systems

Vogt, Melissa

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112050

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…More recently, there has been discussion about ‘megatrees’ and the laissez‐faire approach based on vegetation succession, although historically rewilding tended to focus more on animals, particularly on megafauna. Scientists also are expanding the goals of rewilding, by considering de‐extinction for plants (Albani Rocchetti et al ., 2021), rewilding with cultivated seagrass meadows (van Katwijk et al ., 2021), and rewilding using wild crops and plants to enhance and preserve biodiversity for agricultural goals (Vogt, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological restoration and rewilding: two approaches with complementary goals?

Mutillod,

Buisson,

Mahy

et al. 2024

Biological Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As we enter the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) and address the urgent need to protect and restore ecosystems and their ecological functions at large scales, rewilding has been brought into the limelight. Interest in this discipline is thus increasing, with a large number of conceptual scientific papers published in recent years. Increasing enthusiasm has led to discussions and debates in the scientific community about the differences between ecological restoration and rewilding. The main goal of this review is to compare and clarify the position of each field. Our results show that despite some differences (e.g. top‐down versus bottom‐up and functional versus taxonomic approaches) and notably with distinct goals – recovery of a defined historically determined target ecosystem versus recovery of natural processes with often no target endpoint – ecological restoration and rewilding have a common scope: the recovery of ecosystems following anthropogenic degradation. The goals of ecological restoration and rewilding have expanded with the progress of each field. However, it is unclear whether there is a paradigm shift with ecological restoration moving towards rewilding or vice versa. We underline the complementarity in time and in space of ecological restoration and rewilding. To conclude, we argue that reconciliation of these two fields of nature conservation to ensure complementarity could create a synergy to achieve their common scope.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological restoration and rewilding: two approaches with complementary goals?

Mutillod,

Buisson,

Mahy

et al. 2024

Biological Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…During the first 30 years of debate over definitions of "rewilding" (Jørgensen, 2015), four main forms of rewilding were distinguished (Corlett, 2016): trophic (species introductions to restore top-down trophic interactions), Pleistocene (restoration of a Pleistocene baseline), ecological (allowing ecological processes to regain dominance) and passive (little or no human interference). While these forms of rewilding emphasise little to no human intervention, forms of rewilding that include agricultural interventions have recently been defined: "Rewilding Lite" (delivering wildness while producing some economic benefits, particularly animal products) (Gordon et al, 2021b) and "agricultural wilding" (encouraging wild-crop production systems in agricultural landscapes) (Vogt, 2021). Here, we explore the forms of rewilding and propose merging the two most recent ones into a more general fifth form: "agricultural rewilding".…”

Section: Forms Of Rewildingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The potential of agricultural rewilding to yield plant products (alone or along with animal products) remains to be explored. Vogt (2021) recommends introducing wild crops and plants in agricultural landscapes as a means of in-situ conservation and production, as exemplified by wild coffee systems. Fukuoka (1978) encourages a "natural farming" approach, called "do-nothing farming", whose four principles are i) no cultivation, ii) no chemical fertilisers or prepared composts, iii) no weeding by tillage or herbicides and iv) no dependence on chemicals.…”

Section: What Potential Does Agricultural Rewilding Have For Plant Production?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Agricultural rewilding: a prospect for livestock systems

Mondière¹,

Corson²,

Morel³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

CONTEXT: Agricultural intensification is a major cause of biodiversity loss. Biodiversity conservation and restoration generally involve human intervention. In comparison, rewilding, a radically different approach to address the erosion of biodiversity, aims to increase the ability of ecological processes to act with little or no human intervention, and thus to enhance biodiversity and the supply of ecosystem services. OBJECTIVE: In this review and call to explore the potential of rewilding for agriculture, in particular for livestock systems, we identified effects of agroecological livestock systems on biodiversity and analysed similarities, differences and complementarities between the agroecological transition and the rewilding of livestock systems.METHODS: We researched literature in the Web of Science Core Collection that focussed on biodiversity, livestock, agriculture, rewilding and interactions among them.RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Agricultural rewilding is an emerging form of land use that we conceptually position between agroecology and rewilding. It combines restoration of ecological processes with some degree of agricultural production, most often of animals. Over time, human land-use has aimed to increase plant and animal output, which has degraded the ecological integrity of ecosystems. This process of dewilding accelerated with the advent of agriculture. In recent decades, certain agricultural landscapes and farms have evolved in the opposite direction, decreasing material human inputs and improving ecological integrity. This evolution takes three forms: agroecological transition, agricultural rewilding and rewilding. Of these, the first and third concern relatively large areas. A selection of 11 agricultural rewilding projects established for at least 5 years in the United Kingdom had areas of 121-4402 ha. The projects targeted 48 key species/breeds, 23 of which were ecosystem engineers: 18 grazers, 4 pig breeds and beavers. The main actions to enhance rewilding were extensive grazing and habitat restoration. The main economic activities were meat or animal sales, tourism and education programmes. Agricultural rewilding may provide a multifunctional model to which livestock farms may transition to respond better to societal demands.SIGNIFICANCE: Agricultural rewilding offers a new and inspiring prospect for livestock systems and poses research questions about its relation to agroecology and rewilding, its implementation, its potential for plant production and its value for livestock farmers. The forms it can take remain to be explored, and the potential influence of these forms on biodiversity, ecosystem services and environmental impacts needs to be characterised. Exploring the forms that agricultural rewilding may take requires close collaboration among ecologists, animal scientists and agronomists.

show abstract