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Ireland has swathes of abandoned farmland that could be rewilded, according to a study to be published in Current Biology. The research says there is a notable opportunity for ‘passive rewilding’ on the west coast, which is more cost-effective and less contentious than other types of rewilding. However the study also says that this move alone will not be enough to reach Ireland’s conservation goals.
The Science Media Centre asked Irish experts to comment:
Dr Jonny Hanson, environmental social scientist, Queen’s University Belfast, said:
“Whether in wilder parts of the island, especially western and upland areas, or more densely-populated and intensively-farmed regions, more comprehensive and ambitious agri-environmental schemes are needed to incentivise landowners to conserve biodiversity on their land. In particular, large-scale, landscape-level initiatives, such as the recently-begun ‘Landscape Recovery’ tier in England, are needed to help Ireland meet its biodiversity conservation targets.
The research appears to be a comprehensive mapping study which provides a useful high-level overview of rewilding opportunities at the continental level. However, social context is crucial when seeking to apply these results at national or local levels.
Because much of Ireland has been dramatically changed since prehistoric times, through a wide range of human activities, including the introduction of invasive species like Sika deer, it is important that we take this into account when working towards a future vision for a diverse and flourishing island, rather than trying to recreate the past per se.
In Ireland, the lack of apex predators, as well as the social challenges of returning them, mean that systematic yet ethical deer control is likely to be an important part of Irish rewilding. Incentivising the targeted culling of deer, and linking this to social benefits, such as providing free venison for food banks, school and hospitals, could be an important mechanism to create demand and support for a wider program of deer control across the island.
Rewilding is also a social process that needs to bring rural communities along with it. Amidst the social controversies – such as different visions for the future of the Irish countryside – there are also many social opportunities, including rural development possibilities in Ireland’s uplands.”
Dr Emma Hart, Conservation Ecologist, Founder at habitats.ie said:
“This paper differentiates between active rewilding, which involves the reintroduction of animals, and passive rewilding, which does not involve reintroductions, instead allowing for a natural return of biodiversity to the land through dispersal of wildlife from surrounding areas. The land it identifies in Ireland, largely on the west coast, has been highlighted as suitable for passive rewilding. This is an important differentiation and a reminder that rewilding is not synonymous with the reintroduction of wolves or other large carnivores.
Likewise, this paper differentiates between rewilding and ‘land abandonment’. Land abandonment does not offer the same benefits as rewilding. In fact, it can have devastating consequences for biodiversity, particularly where invasive species, such as Rhododendron ponticum, are allowed to proliferate. While a reduction in human interference over time – allowing nature to ‘take care of itself’ – is the end goal in rewilding, land under rewilding in Ireland, particularly on smaller scale projects, will require ongoing management, for example to control herbivore populations and invasive species.
Farmers and other landowners can opt in to a variety of schemes to receive payments for implementing environmentally beneficial actions on their land. In addition to helping Ireland to meet its biodiversity targets, including rewilding amongst these options in future could offer landowners an alternative management approach for less productive land and benefit wider society through the provision of a wide range of ecosystem services.”
Declarations of Interest:
Dr Emma Hart is a researcher and consultant in the field of rewilding and also owns and manages a nature restoration project in the south of Ireland.
Dr Jonny Hanson: “I have a popular science book on this topic coming out in early 2025.”
‘Expanding European protected areas through rewilding’ by Miguel B. Araújo and Diogo Alagador was published in Cell Biology at 16:00 Ireland time on Thursday 15th August.