Environmental Philosophy and Ethics

Rewilding and restoration ecology examine how degraded ecosystems can be rebuilt by reintroducing lost species, restoring natural processes, and allowing landscapes to recover ecological complexity over time. The work sits at the intersection of biology and ethics, asking not only whether recovery is technically possible—as with proposals to reintroduce apex predators or even resurrect extinct species through de-extinction—but also who has the standing to make those decisions and what obligations humans bear toward non-human nature. Researchers are actively debating how trophic rewilding, which focuses on restoring food-web dynamics through keystone species, shapes both biodiversity outcomes and the way communities relate to and identify with their local landscapes. Open questions include how to weigh ecological function against cultural place attachment when rewilding conflicts with existing land use, and where the ethical boundaries of large-scale intervention in nature should be drawn.

Works

28,131

Total citations

212,603

Keywords

RewildingConservationEcological CitizenshipEnvironmental EthicsDe-extinctionRestoration Ecology