Promoting grazing or rewilding initiatives against rural exodus? The return of the wolf and other large carnivores must be considered

The human abandonment of rural areas facilitates rewilding, which is also supported by European projects and initiatives. Rewilding often implies the return of iconic predators such as the wolf (Canis lupus), leading to human–wildlife conflicts. To reverse human depopulation, initiatives such as the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental conservation Vol. 47; no. 4; pp. 269 - 276
Main Authors: Recio, Mariano R, Sand, Håkan, Virgós, Emilio
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.12.2020
Subjects:
Abandonment
Agricultural management
Agricultural policy
altitude
area
Biodiversity
Canis lupus
Carnivores
Cattle
Cohabitation
Common Agricultural Policy
Ecology
Economic activity
Ecosystem services
Ekologi
Environmental restoration
Farming
Grazing
human-wildlife relations
humans
income
Intensive farming
Livestock
Mountains
natural resources conservation
Non-Thematic Section
objectives
plateaus
Population decline
Predators
Prey
Recolonization
Repopulation
Research Paper
Rural areas
Sheep
Spain
Wildlife
Wildlife conservation
wolves
Iberian Peninsula
Europe
Spain
CAP
grazing
rewilding
subsidies
human–wildlife conflict
wolf attacks
rural exodus
ISSN:0376-8929, 1469-4387, 1469-4387
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The human abandonment of rural areas facilitates rewilding, which is also supported by European projects and initiatives. Rewilding often implies the return of iconic predators such as the wolf (Canis lupus), leading to human–wildlife conflicts. To reverse human depopulation, initiatives such as the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidize extensive grazing of areas unsuitable for intensive agriculture. Therefore, rewilding and reversing depopulation initiatives seem to be mutually incompatible, and further insight into controversial aspects of the return of apex predators is needed when considering the reform of the CAP for post-2020. To develop understanding of these different objectives in the context of large carnivore recolonizations, we analysed wolf attacks on livestock in central Spain, where livestock is managed differently between the plateau and the mountains. As with other European regions, this area is undergoing rural abandonment and is subsidized by the CAP. Free-roaming cattle at higher elevations were subject to increased attacks irrespective of the abundance of wild prey. Efforts to subsidize human repopulation of areas experiencing recolonization by large carnivores require consideration of a model of cohabitation with these predators assisted by mitigation and compensation measures. Rewilding could bring alternative sustainable income based on the values brought by the presence of large carnivores and associated ecosystem services.
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ISSN:0376-8929
1469-4387
1469-4387
DOI:10.1017/S0376892920000284