The Guardian view on rewilding Scotland: an immodest proposal | Editorial

If undertaken in the right spirit, the restoration of huge tracts of the Highlands could be a hugely beneficial enterpriseWhat exactly is meant by rewilding depends on who is talking about it. The term was coined by Dave Foreman, a leading figure in the 1980s wave of environmental direct action in the US, to describe the kind of large-scale wilderness restoration he and others advocated. Their idea was that conservationists should move beyond trying to protect particular beauty spots or species, and focus on rebuilding ecosystems that could sustain themselves with minimal human interference.Since then, rewilding projects in the US, Europe and South America have seen huge areas given over to efforts - funded by wealthy individuals as well as governments - to support flora and fauna to recover from the damage inflicted over centuries. Large mammals have been reintroduced, or supported to extend their territories where they had become extinct: wolves in the north-western US, elk in Denmark, Iberian lynx in Spain. In its most dramatic versions, rewilding emphasises the role of apex predators and megafauna including elephants, and suggests that such creatures could one day return to swaths of the planet from which they long ago disappeared. Continue reading...