Resource description:
This document provides an overview of the activities carried out and the main results obtained under Task 2.2, “Rewilding adaptability under increasing climate change disturbances”, within Work Package 2, “Rewilding Practice: In-depth analysis of rewilding contexts, practices and outcomes”, of the wildE project; a project aimed
to evaluate and strengthen the role of climate-smart rewilding as a nature-based approach to ecosystem restoration across Europe.
To contribute to the overarching goal of the wildE project, Task 2.2 was designed to examine the nexus between rewilding and disturbances: that is, the extent to which rewilding actions may increase ecosystem resilience to disturbances driven by climate change, and whether these restoration practices may, under some
circumstances, contribute to the occurrence of disturbance events, with particular attention given to wildfires.
The ultimate aim of this task was to identify those interventions that can enhance the adaptability of rewilding projects to increasing climate change-related disturbances.
Our objectives were addressed through the following activities:
1. A literature review on the nexus between rewilding and disturbance, with particular emphasis on developing a framework for restoring fire regimes through rewilding.
2. A vote-counting and meta-analysis exercise to examine the extent to which rewilding interventions increase ecosystem resilience or may facilitate the occurrence of disturbances in terrestrial
ecosystems.
3. A workshop on “Rewilding in the context of increasing climate change disturbances” to gather
feedback from the different case studies included in wildE and refine the results of the literature
review, particularly regarding the rewilding and wildfires nexus.
Author/Contact:
Josep Maria Espelta, Rodrigo
Balaguer-Romano, Ella Plumanns-
Pouton, Miriam Selwyn, Lluís Brotons