Rewilding is the act of restoring an ecosystem, such as a grassland or jungle, to a state where it no longer needs maintenance from humans. It typically involves cleaning up pollutants and contamination, removing fencing and barriers and ending destructive human activities in the area. In very damaged land it can also involve more active restoration efforts such as replanting and species reintroduction.

This kind of conservation can increase the diversity of species in an area, restore damage to ecosystems, and even remove greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere, storing them in plants or the soil. Rewilding can support local communities, who may see rewilded areas provide better flood protection, improve water quality and create better conditions for growing food.   

However, there are concerns that rewilding efforts can be poorly managed. For example, rewilding in previously farmed areas needs planning to make sure people formerly in agricultural roles are retrained and given jobs initiating and defending rewilding efforts. When done incorrectly, rewilding efforts can actually damage ecosystems and biodiversity. This can happen, for instance, when reintroduced species lack enough predators in the food chain, leading to overpopulation of one species, throwing the ecosystem out of balance.

Rewilding is a more effective conservation tool when local communities are engaged in the process. Lessons on how restored ecosystems benefit communities could increase support for this technique.

Mismanagement of rewilding programmes and lack of communication with local communities could hinder the adoption of rewilding.

Discard 1 card from your hand, then add 1 Ecological Resilience token to your player board for each Ecology tag in this card's stack.

• Rewilding (Wikipedia)

• The benefits and risks of rewilding (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, IUCN) 

• Better Forests, Better Cities (World Resources Institute, WRI)

• Support the reintroduction of local species in your community, such as by planting local trees

• Encourage your city or town to rewild degraded or unused areas.

• Encourage political representatives to introduce democratic and community-led rewilding projects on public land, increasing the amount of public land available to do so in countries which have been heavily privatized.