A multi-scale approach to integrating rewilding into agricultural landscapes

Abstract

Finding ways to improve the sustainability of modern agriculture by recovering nature in agricultural landscapes is critical for conserving biodiversity and enhancing human well-being. Rewilding principles could be applied to any type of landscape, which raises the possibility of employing rewilding approaches in agricultural areas while maintaining some degree of food production therein. Moving beyond the simple dichotomy of land sparing versus land sharing, here we propose a multi-scale approach that integrates rewilding principles into agricultural landscapes by combining the creation of wilder ecosystems in separate set-aside recovered areas with the implementation of farming approaches that are more sustainable, such as precision farming, ecologically intensified farming, and extensive farming, in adjacent areas. Adoption of such approaches would allow for more biodiversity elements to persist within the agricultural matrix. We explain how this approach could support the three critical components of rewilded land—dispersal, trophic complexity, and stochastic disturbances—and create agroecological landscapes that are biodiverse, resilient, and functionally connected at multiple scales.