Resource description:
Climate-smart rewilding is a promising approach to ecological restoration that combines the benefits of dynamic and process-based restoration with carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation. However, little is known about suitable locations for climate-smart rewilding in Europe as there is a lack of continental scale, spatial assessments of where to rewild.
We present an approach to map the potential for climate-smart rewilding in Europe by considering three dimensions: (1) Ecological potential representing the best conditions for restoring key ecological processes, (2) Carbon potential describing the potential for carbon sequestration, and (3) Land potential reflecting the societal (opportunity) costs of dedicating land to rewilding. Using these three dimensions, we map the climate-smart rewilding potential across Europe and analyse synergies and trade-offs between them.
Author/Contact:
Kloibhofer, Judith; Prestele, Reinhard; Leitinger, Georg; Rounsevell, Mark
DOI reference:
10.5445/IR/1000180809
- 1-s2.0-S0301479725010606-main.pdf (12.8 MB)