rewilding

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a conservation approach that aims to restore ecosystems to a more self-sustaining state by reintroducing keystone species — particularly large predators and herbivores — allowing natural processes to reassert themselves and reducing active human management over time; rewilding gained prominence through the Rewilding Europe initiative and the celebrated reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, which triggered a trophic cascade that transformed vegetation patterns, riverbank stability, and species composition throughout the park; in Europe, rewilding projects aim to restore lynx, wolves, wisent (European bison), and other megafauna to landscapes from which they were extirpated; rewilding challenges the assumption that conservation must be primarily defensive, proposing instead an active restoration of ecological dynamism