Community Rewilding Guide

Switch to Gaelic / Tionndaidh gu Gàidhlig

Authored by Anna Lawrence and Charlotte Maddix

The desire to restore nature or rewild is shared by many people across Scotland.

For many community groups, nature restoration and promoting biodiversity are very important. That might involve hands-on rewilding, persuading others to rewild, or taking part in actions that support rewilding (like citizen science). Coastal communities in Scotland also have a growing voice and involvement in restoring local marine ecosystems.

There are no quick fixes to the nature and climate emergencies - but empowering people to work together to tackle these crises increases community capacity to deal with the challenges we face, and brings a whole cascade of benefits from health and wellbeing to nature-based jobs to reduced flooding and wildfires.

We were inspired to produce this guide because of the growing number of community groups who find that rewilding is part of their work. We want to share a snapshot of the amazing work taking place to restore Scotland’s ecosystems, share tips for people wanting to take similar action, and provide links to resources for community groups. We also want to make sure that how communities can contribute to rewilding or large-scale ecosystem recovery is in the spotlight.

As you read this guide, you’ll see the different things that rewilding means to different community groups. More than anything else, rewilding means hope. Hope for a liveable future. Hope that the world can be wilder. Hope that, together, we can restore nature - and ourselves.