Biodiversity has been negatively impacted by some human actions, whilst some conservation projects have considered non-human beings at the expense of humans, leading to social injustice; a more reasonable approach would be to consider both.

The aim is to empower both humans and non-human species, to find areas of commonality and compromise, to minimize exploitation of either.

The model has been designed for use in the UK. It can be adapted for use on a small scale (i.e., private gardens or verges), medium scale (i.e., parks or fields), or larger scale (i.e., farmland, local authority managed estates). It is customizable depending on the scale, the number of people involved will vary depending on this, but the key actors will be the human inhabitant(s) and non-human current and future inhabitants.

The model is an arch structure which can be constructed using paper/card, scissors and glue. Each of the nine bricks represents a particular theme to consider; each is essential for structural stability. These are:

• Human inhabitants
• Legal advice/advocate for human inhabitants
• Ecologist/rewilding advice
• Ecological assessment
• The keystone: minimal intervention as a long-term aim
• The area
• Beyond the boundaries
• Contextual assessment
• Agreement - Compromise - Actions

The target users are the human and non-human inhabitants of the space, who may not be static; thus, the model also considers the area outside the boundaries of the area of focus.

 

The human and non-human actors have agency to influence the project to balance increasing biodiversity with their needs. However, it is noted that this agency is unlikely to be equal, the model is a human construct; even with the best intentions to connect with non-human needs it will probably always fall short in addressing these equally. Even within the realm of non-human species any one action may benefit one species over another. This is partly the reason behind the long-term minimal intervention approach of rewilding.

The model operates within rewilding ideologies, and it aims to allow for diverse manifestations of these.

Influences are the Iconoclasistas' people-empowering paper nets, the Re-Discover creative rewilding projects, Scotland: The Big Picture, Global Charter for Rewilding the Earth and Tsing et al's brilliant book Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet.

A measure of success is the ease of use and appeal to potential users.

Please see below for links to the project influences, photos and if you would like to start your own rewilding project, you can download the rewilding model and guidance notes. You can also download a blank arch model template that you could use to customise your own creative projects.

Influences:

Iconoclasistas "Nosotras movemos al mundo, ahora lo paramos" - https://iconoclasistas.net/portfolio-item/ico-globo-terraqueo-para-armar/
Re-Discover - https://rewildingsussex.org/projects/rediscovered/
Scotland: The Big Picture - https://www.scotlandbigpicture.com
Global Charter for Rewilding the Earth - https://wild11.org/charter/
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet, Tsing et al - https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Anna-Lowenhaupt-Tsing/Arts-of-Living-on-a-Damaged-Planet--Ghosts-and-Monsters-of-the-Anthropocene/20724606

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Make your own model! See templates below to complete your own rewilding project through the rewilding form and build your own rewilding arch. Alternatively, you can also download a blank template of the arch for your own project!