Current and future opportunities for satellite remote sensing to inform rewilding

Abstract

Rewilding has been suggested as an effective strategy for addressing environmental challenges such as the intertwined biodiversity and climate change crises, but there is little information to guide the monitoring of rewilding projects. Since rewilding focuses on enhancing ecosystem functionality, with no defined endpoint, monitoring strategies used in restoration are often inappropriate, as they typically focus on assessing species composition, or the ecological transition of an ecosystem towards a defined desired state. We here discuss how satellite remote sensing can provide an opportunity to address existing knowledge and data gaps in rewilding science. We first discuss how satellite remote sensing is currently being used to inform rewilding initiatives and highlight current barriers to the adoption of this type of technology by practitioners and scientists involved with rewilding. We then identify opportunities for satellite remote sensing to help address current knowledge gaps in rewilding, including gaining a better understanding of the role of animals in ecosystem functioning; improving the monitoring of landscape‐scale connectivity; and assessing the impacts of rewilding on the conservation status of rewilded sites. Though significant barriers remain to the widespread use of satellite remote sensing to monitor rewilding projects, we argue that decisions on monitoring approaches and priorities need to be part of implementation plans from the start, involving both remote sensing experts and ecologists. Making use of the full potential of satellite remote sensing for rewilding ultimately requires integrating species and ecosystem perspectives at the monitoring, knowledge‐producing and decision‐making levels. Such an integration will require a change in know‐how, necessitating increased inter‐disciplinary interactions and collaborations, as well as conceptual shifts in communities and organizations traditionally involved in biodiversity conservation.

Rewilding as a Multifaceted Concept and Emerging Approach: The Romanian Experience

“…Indices of recovery progress, recovery completeness, or both are quantified to compare degraded, restored, and intact reference ecosystems to assess the restoration success [61]. Integrated into a suitable framework, numerous relevant variables and indicators must be taken into account to evaluate the ecological outcomes of rewilding projects, and this is information that constitutes the key to long-term engagement and political support for rewilding [62]. To address some of those challenges, recent technological advances are added to short-term measurements, as emphasized at point 7.…”

“…The spatial understanding of rewilding progress and potential was provided, with the developed framework being useful in facilitating decision-making for practitioners. Satellite remote sensing is considered promising for the cost-effective monitoring of ecosystem processes, functions, and services [30] and also for assessing the biodiversity outcomes of rewilding projects in terms of land cover mapping and changes in the availability of suitable habitats [62]. The need to incorporate GIS (geographic information systems) in further work was also underlined by Balfour et al [65] as a modality to allow a more context-sensitive and spatial understanding of agro-ecological farming and conservation land to identify the most suitable management strategies and by Bühne et al [77] as a modality of evaluation of the benefits and limitations of rewilding on the ecosystem in terms of its composition, structure, and functioning.…”

“…Applicable at local, national, regional, and global levels, the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) Categories and Criteria [78] is a global standard for assessment of the conservation status of ecosystems. It was suggested that RLE assessments could be combined with the three ecological variables identified by Perino et al [2] to measure the rewilding outcomes in relation to the conservation status of rewilded sites [62].…”

“…Remote sensing can supply spatial data on ecosystems and habitats and is extensively used for conservation monitoring [76]. Satellite data proved to be useful in land cover mapping, land cover change monitoring, detection of changes in the availability of suitable habitats, and monitoring the level of human-induced disturbances in and around rewilding sites [62,76].…”

“…Satellite remote sensing was recently emphasized as a tool well suited to monitor and evaluate the progress of rewilding projects, due to its utility in providing information on the state of and pressures on biodiversity at different spatial scales. More than that, this technique sustains the cost-effective monitoring of ecosystem processes and functions [62]. Despite these advantages, some gaps are currently identified.…”