Friday Essay: Can rewilding give us a brighter, greener future?

Kelp is a fundamental part of the Great Southern Reef, which extends 8,000 kilometers around Southern Australia from Kalbarri in Western Australia to Coolangatta in Queensland. Here, for certain groups of organisms – seaweeds, sponges, crustaceans, chordates, bryozoans, echinoderms and molluscs – about 30–80% of species are found nowhere else on Earth. For example, think of a slender sea dragon with leaf-like wings.

This area is a biodiversity hotspot, less known than the Great Barrier Reef, but just as worthy. There are also commercially important species such as rock lobster and abalone that depend on healthy reefs for shelter and food.

Giant kelp is found in the south-eastern corner of the Great Southern Reef. It has historically been a tourist attraction. Diving into the giant kelp forests is like being transported into the Jack and the Beanstalk fable – which is really no exaggeration, given its almost miraculous growth rates. Giant kelp can grow up to 50 centimeters per day under ideal conditions, reaching more than 30 meters above sea level.

It used to block boat propellers, preventing anchorage around Tasmania, but the giant kelp on the island’s east coast has declined by 95% in recent decades. The reason for its demise: warmer, nutrient-poor waters than ever before spreading further down the Australian coastline, as well as the arrival of invasive long-spined sea urchins, which graze on kelp and other seaweeds, creating marine deserts known as barrens.

In 2012, the giant kelp marine forests of south-east Australia became the first marine community to be listed as endangered under the federal government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

My husband, Craig Johnson, a marine biologist, was one of the first people to document the decline through his work at the University of Tasmania’s Institute of Marine and Antarctic Sciences and to think about breeding heat-tolerant giant kelp varieties and reseeding them in the wild.

Now, teams of researchers excited by the prospect of restoring Tasmania’s iconic undersea forests are at work. Tests have shown that giant kelp forests can return within a year.

If given a chance, nature can heal. The dream is that heat-tolerant strains can be successfully bred and replicated on a large scale, and more forests will grow in these forests. If invasive urchins can be controlled, barren land can then be replaced with healthy temperate reefs.

In an age of eco-crime, repurposed projects like this are having a moment, even attracting the interest of royalty. On their visit to Tasmania in March 2026, Queen Mary of Denmark and King Frederick accompanied researchers on a visit to a relic stand of giant kelp south of Hobart in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. He heard about replanting efforts from the institute’s Scott Ling.

The question arises: can we imagine a brighter future for ourselves? From moves to restore vast kelp forests in Tasmania to the successful reintroduction of white storks in the United Kingdom, where they are now breeding for the first time in 600 years, the answer may be yes.

Rewilding takes hold

The approach is working to bring a growing number of species back from the brink of extinction around the world. Some projects, such as kelp forests, involve the selection and breeding of naturally occurring, resilient varieties that can thrive in our changed conditions. Others include reintroducing lost species that were once dominant, such as wolves in the forests of northern Europe.

Endangered eastern quolls are being reintroduced into a highland property known as Quoin in the Tasmanian Highlands, with the successful arrival of pouched young confirmed, a sign that the programme, which had introduced 24 quolls by 2025, is progressing well. The program emerges from the broader vision of Lisa Miller, a zoologist by training, through Vegetal, a private company that invests in restoring ecologically valuable areas around the world.

I have only seen a quoll once, on our property south of Hobart, a sleek speck flashing through the bush, so fast I questioned whether it was real. How wonderful it would be if they returned in large numbers, if not yet to the suburbs of Hobart, then to the Tasmanian Highlands.

storks are bringing luck

A world away in Sussex, England, the success of an old castle estate is capturing the world’s attention and its hearts. Thanks to the foresight of property owners Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell, a highly successful rewilding effort is transforming the Knapp Estate. From white storks to purple monarch butterflies, countless species are making a comeback.

Thanks to the work and research of the owners and the community organizations they have partnered with, the list of species visiting Knap Castle Estate reflects the Middle Ages. The nappe has become a breeding ground for the critically endangered bulbuls and turtle doves. Then there are peregrine falcons, sparrowhawks and skylarks. Tree documented the project in his book Wilding, and also captured it in a hit documentary of the same name.

I visited the property in 2023 and met Laura Von-Hirsch, a biologist who manages the white stork project at Knapp.

He told me that the white stork was initially brought to Nap from the Warsaw Zoo in Poland. He showed me a taxidermied specimen, one of that first group, its body the height of a human torso, its strong beak silent. During greeting, and at other times, the storks throw back their heads and thump their beaks in a sound captured on video by live web cameras deployed at Nap Oaks – viewed by viewers around the world.

Since the arrival of those first storks from the Warsaw Zoo, numbers have increased significantly, with birds coming from wild populations. Last year there were 19 nests, which produced 45 chicks.

People in the local community have been charmed by the return of the birds, some of which have started nesting on rooftops in neighboring suburbs. Red kites are also returning, which were common in the skies over England in Shakespeare’s time. Kites are now trying to prey on storks’ nests and are being driven away by the storks – a competition taking place in the skies that has not been seen for centuries.

In 1822, the phenomenon of long-distance bird migration began to be understood in the West. A white stork was found in Germany carrying an African spear. It is on display at the University of Rostock in Germany. Before then, myths were prevalent that birds went into hibernation.

With knowledge of migration comes awareness: birds moving between countries in different seasons may have the same population. If a population disappears from one area, it disappears from all. Similarly, if a bird species returns to an area in healthy numbers, the benefits can be far-reaching.

On my visit to Nap, I visited during an open day, where community members were invited to hear about the programs going on. The tour leader was Tony Whitbread, formerly chief executive of the Sussex Wildlife Trust and now a volunteer at the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre. He was expecting only a handful of people to join him on a tour of the property for a guided lecture. He finished with 300 spectators.

Knapp’s secret is to restore the environment from the ground up, first by introducing the wild herbivores that play a role in tilling the soil. Invertebrate species began to flourish due to healthy soil. Knepp now boasts the largest population of purple monarch butterflies in Britain. The increase in the number of invertebrates is followed by an increase in the bird population.

People can pay to stay overnight in treetop tents at Knepp, a safari experience and the opportunity to commune with nature at this unique property just 25km from Gatwick Airport.

Rewilding has its critics, with some concerned about the invasion of weed species or the loss of agricultural land. But in Knapp’s case, the property’s heavy clay soil made the property unproductive before the program began.

The wolves are moving and the cities are turning green

In Europe, wolves are also increasing rapidly, with 21,500 estimated to remain on the continent in 2022, a 58% increase in a decade. The return of boar, deer and other prey species has led to the expansion of wolf populations, as well as an increase in the number of wolf-human interactions in countries such as Denmark.

While not everyone is a fan of it, the return of apex predators does result in changes to the food web through what is known as a trophic cascade. The effects of predators spreading downward through food webs means that ecosystems begin to function again as they once did.

Cities are also being rewilded to some extent, but where this is happening it is being shown to be working with species such as platypuses, beavers and hornbills returning to urban parks around the world.

Rewilding projects aim to reduce biodiversity loss by bringing back lost species. Research has also shown that rewilding can help mitigate climate change, for example, as restored wetlands act as climate sinks.

Still, there are challenges in rebuilding. In Australia, the huge problem of feral predators such as cats and foxes means that efforts to create “safe havens” for wildlife, although important, are not sufficient. If reforestation is to be successful more widely, feral populations in the forest also need to be controlled.

Similarly, trying to raise warm water-tolerant corals to help the vast Great Barrier Reef is laudable, but it is labor-intensive and not a perfect solution in itself given the issue of scale. Furthermore, once water temperatures exceed the ability of these corals to cope with man-made climate change, other solutions will be needed to address the damage to the reef.

But by providing some soothing balm of hope, could reforestation also encourage further practical action, a green revolution that could spread across the planet? This idea appears to be taking hold, not only for the benefit of the natural world, but for the benefit of humans as well. Of course, we are also part of nature. Indeed, concepts of wildness that ignore the long history of indigenous presence have been criticized.

healing power of nature

More and more, researchers are recognizing the health benefits of what some call nature bathing. Oxford academic Cathy Willis outlines her research on the topic in her 2024 book Good Nature. His interest began 15 years ago when he learned of a study showing that hospital patients recovered three times faster from surgery if they could see trees from their hospital windows instead of looking at the walls. His research has since shown a scientific connection between green spaces and improved health, mood and longevity. She covers surprising facts, like how the smell of cedar promotes cancer-fighting cells in our immune system, and how touching the wood can calm us.

There’s even an educational feature known as “Blue Health.” Irish national surf champion and scientist Esky Britton documents our relationship with water and the science behind its psychological impact on us. Surfers and scuba divers know this intuitively in their bodies and minds.

I’ve also joined a cold water swimming group in Hobart. I’ve noticed that jumping into the ocean and staying in it for as many minutes as the ocean is warm – 13 degrees Celsius is equivalent to a 13-minute immersion – brings people together. Perhaps part of that sense of well-being comes from community.

Psychological research tells us that, as individuals, a healthy dose of daydreaming and practical action can help us achieve the life we ​​want to live. There is some evidence that, collectively, imagining a better future can also help us feel closer to each other and move together in that direction. AIIMS

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.