There are numerous bidiversity indictors used for different areas in the world. In the U.K., for example, one set of indicators for plants relates to four U.K. broad habitat types: Arable field margins; Broadleaved woodland and hedges; Bog and wet heath; and Lowland grassland.
Taking Europe more generally, the vast majority of protected landscapes across Europe are rated as in poor or bad condition and vital species and their habitats continue to decline. This is outlined in the State of Nature in the EU 2013-2018 assessment, produced by the European Environment Agency.
However measures are compiled, there is a broad consensus developing around rewilding. Rewilding refers to large-scale conservation projects aimed at restoring and protecting natural processes, providing connectivity between such areas, and protecting or reintroducing important species.
The objective of rewilding
A team of scientists are recommending the ‘rewilding’ of natural landscapes that have been harmed by human exploitation. This activity is regarded as an effective means to address the subject of the climate crisis. At the same time, the process of rewilding address the issue of dwindling wildlife populations.
A report in the science journal Nature (“Global priority areas for ecosystem restoration”) finds that if one third of the planet’s most degraded areas were restored, and measures to protect these areas is put in place, this will create environmental conditions where carbon equivalent to half of all human caused greenhouse gas emissions since the industrial revolution.
Overall, the changes will prevent about 70 percent of likely species extinctions, according an review of the research published in The Guardian.
