New poll shows three-quarters of Scots support rewilding as campaign launched for Scotland to become world’s first 'Rewilding Nation'

MORE than three-quarters of Scots support rewilding in Scotland, according to research carried out for the Scottish Rewilding Alliance, a coalition of more than 20 organisations.

The findings come as the alliance launches a campaign calling on the Scottish Government to declare Scotland the world’s first Rewilding Nation, with a commitment to rewilding 30 per cent of the country’s land and sea within a decade. This is ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), to be held in Glasgow in November.

A new opinion poll shows that 76 per cent of Scots support rewilding – the large-scale restoration of nature to the point it’s allowed to take care of itself – with just seven per cent opposed.

The poll was conducted by market research agency Survation for the Scottish Rewilding Alliance, with a sample size of 1,071 residents aged over-16 living in Scotland.

The Rewilding Nation campaign kicked off yesterday, February 17, with an animation narrated by wildlife presenter and filmmaker Gordon Buchanan showing how rewilding can help make Scotland a place where nature recovers, wildlife flourishes and people prosper.

Steve Micklewright, convener of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance and chief executive of Findhorn-based Trees for Life, said: "The world faces overlapping nature, climate and health crises, but Scotland has the opportunity to show bold leadership by becoming the world’s first Rewilding Nation.

"We have the space, political influence and public backing to become a world leader in saving nature and ourselves."

With habitats and species being eradicated rapidly worldwide, the United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.

The Scottish Government has committed itself to bold action to tackle the crisis facing biodiversity through its Edinburgh Declaration.

The alliance says Scotland is far from being the nature-restoration trailblazer it could be, despite many superb conservation initiatives.

It says only 1.5 per cent of Scotland’s land is national nature reserves and four per cent is native woodland, while 25 per cent is severely nature depleted and does not support the nature-rich forests, peatlands and river systems it should. Rural landscapes now support fewer people than previously.

Declining or at-risk species include red squirrels, wild cats, capercaillie and great yellow bumblebees. Recovery or return of species such as beavers, cranes, sea eagles and pine martens happen slowly, while elk and lynx are among the species already made extinct.

The alliance adds that the Scottish Government has put 37 per cent of Scotland’s seas into forms of designation, but damaging activities such as scallop dredging and bottom trawling are only banned from less than five per cent of coastal waters.

The alliance says rewilding at least 30 per cent of Scotland’s land and sea by 2030 can be achieved by restoring and expanding woodlands, moorlands, peatlands, rivers and marine habitats, and without loss of productive agricultural land.

Peter Cairns, director of SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, said: "We’re being seriously outpaced by climate breakdown and biodiversity loss, so trying to save nature piecemeal isn’t enough. Scotland has the opportunity to restore the web of life that supports our health and wellbeing, while acting as a rewilding inspiration globally."

To view the Scottish Rewilding Alliance’s new animation, Rhythms of Life, see www.rewild.scot.