World Rewilding Day: Working together for nature and society
March 20th marks 'World Rewilding Day': a global day to celebrate the importance of rewilding, initiated by the Global Rewilding Alliance. This year's theme is 'Rewilding Together', highlighting the many organisations and individuals working to restore ecosystems and recover wildlife. Together, they are working on a resilient and biodiverse future, for both nature and society.
FREE Nature is one of such organisations working to develop wild, resilient nature. As described in our recently published multi-year vision, we work on establishing and strengthening connections between society and nature, between grazers and the public and between us and our partners. Collaboration is key.
Our organisation prefers to have its 'feet in the clay', among our large grazers such as Scottish highland cattle, konik horse and European bison. Since our founding in 2007, we have learned more and more about the crucial role that nature plays for us and the formative influence that our grazers and people have on it. Through our work we contribute to flood protection, clean drinking water and human health and relaxation.
Rewilding within the Netherlands
Rewilding is a progressive approach to nature management, where nature is allowed to form itself and natural processes are given free reign. This not only increases biodiversity, but also provides solutions to the effects of climate change, such as reducing the risk of floods and wildfires.
Herbivores play a key role in rewilding. Traditionally, the Netherlands was rich in numerous large herbivores. They formed the basis of rich, natural landscapes and evolved along with all the other plant and animal species we still encounter today. Primal species such as aurochs and the tarpan became extinct centuries ago. Dedomesticated cattle and horses are used as replacements, to bring back the key role their ancestors had in Dutch landscapes.
A significant portion of our astonishing flora and fauna is tied to open and semi-open landscapes. Without the presence of primitive breeds of cattle and horses, such as koniks and Scottish highland cattle, areas become overgrown with trees and bushes at lightning speed, threatening the disappearance of other species. Large grazers put a brake on this development. It is essential that the grazers live as naturally as possible: wild, outside year-round, in social herds and with as little human influence as possible.
The vision of FREE Nature
FREE Nature has more than 25 years of experience in the field of natural grazing, dedomesticating large grazers and the development of (new) natural areas. Together with our partners we created resilient, biodiverse nature reserves with space for natural dynamics. However, over the years we also learned more and more about the crucial role that nature plays for our society and what formative role our large herbivores have in it. Nature turns out to be one of our most important social partners and forms an integral part of the solution to numerous challenges our society is currently contending with.
Consider, for example, flood safety. During high water peaks, grazed floodplains store water and gradually drain the water towards the sea. The development of nature reserves along the major rivers ensures that villages and towns along the floodplains stay safe. The water buffalo has become an icon for the Dutch nature reserve Noordwaard. Thanks to the water buffalo, the flow of the water, as envisioned in the nationwide 'Ruimte voor de Rivier' ('space for the river') project, has been realised and species such as spoonbill, Eurasian widgeon, Eurasian teal, osprey and white-tailed eagle benefit from their grazing.
But large grazers are also a crucial part of the nutrient cycle. Grazing restores the buffering capacity of soils, which have become highly acidified in recent decades as a result of nitrogen deposition. The sooner the problems of excessive nitrogen deposition are addressed, the faster nature recovers. This will enable us to be able to invest again in housing and mobility, which our society has a great need for.
In addition, large grazers sequester carbon dioxide from the air into the soil, reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. At the same time, grazing promotes the absorbent qualities of the soil, allowing precipitation to be absorbed quickly and preventing accelerated water runoff over the surface. This allows us to increase our future drinking water supply.
What FREE Nature does, we no longer do alone. Across Europe, we see new grazing initiatives emerging. More than ever before, we seek contact with the countries around us exchange knowledge and work together to achieve an appropriate Europe-wide legal status for large grazers. Also within the Netherlands, FREE Nature is pushing its boundaries and entering into new alliances with utility companies such as energy and drinking water companies. This way, we work together towards a resilient and robust future, both for nature and for society: completely in line with the theme 'Rewilding Together' of this World Rewilding Day.
Photos by Arjen Boerman