Rewilding on marginal land could bolster employment without halting traditional agricultural activities, data shows.
The drive to restore nature on a large scale in the UK’s landscape could create nearly 20,000 jobs in rural communities and increase employment by 50 per cent.
Some of the new positions could include hybrid roles in animal husbandry and ecology, positions in nature tourism and specialists roles in species reintroductions.
Prof Alastair Driver, the director of Rewilding Britain, who put together the research said rewilding on marginal land could increase employment without stopping traditional agricultural activities.
“Even just two or three jobs in small rural communities is very significant. That will bring greater vibrancy and spin-off opportunities to those areas. I can only see it being a good thing,” he added.
Prof Driver revealed that when he was putting data in to a spreadsheet he could see the job numbers going up almost every time he added a site.
The projection is based on detailed surveys of 27 large rewilding sites in England, totalling about 21,162 hectares of marginal land in the network of estates, farm and conservation areas. The area represents about 0.2 per cent of England.
Jake Fiennes, the director of conservation at Holkham estate in north Norfolk and representative of the East Anglia National Farmers’ Union Environmental Forum, said agriculture was facing a skills shortage as more farms chose to wild parts of their land.
“We’re teetering on the edge of this green revolution with agriculture. Around 70 per cent of England is farmed. Imagine if we farmed 50 per cent of that in a way that was beneficial to the environment,” he added.
LSL News.