1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,874 (birds chirping} 2 00:00:01,874 --> 00:00:06,307 {lion growling) 3 00:00:06,992 --> 00:00:10,043 (birds chirping} 4 00:00:10,043 --> 00:00:11,367 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 5 00:00:11,367 --> 00:00:14,574 Rewilding means reversing the destruction of the natural world 6 00:00:15,399 --> 00:00:18,718 and attempting a mass restoration of ecosystems. 7 00:00:18,718 --> 00:00:20,298 (sound of bulldozer passing) 8 00:00:20,298 --> 00:00:21,328 (birds chirping) 9 00:00:21,328 --> 00:00:26,092 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 10 00:00:26,092 --> 00:00:29,161 Why is it that trees are so amazingly resilient 11 00:00:29,161 --> 00:00:32,116 that you can smash them, you can twist them and splinter them, 12 00:00:32,116 --> 00:00:34,115 but they still come bounding back? 13 00:00:35,115 --> 00:00:37,181 And why is it that understory trees 14 00:00:37,181 --> 00:00:39,543 like box and holly and yew are so much tougher 15 00:00:39,543 --> 00:00:43,348 than the big trees like oak and beech and ash in the forest canopy? 16 00:00:43,348 --> 00:00:44,674 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 17 00:00:44,674 --> 00:00:47,461 I think the same answer applies to both, 18 00:00:47,461 --> 00:00:49,677 and that is elephants. 19 00:00:49,677 --> 00:00:53,739 Does that sound crazy? I'm sure it does, but elephants were everywhere. 20 00:00:53,739 --> 00:00:55,066 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 21 00:00:55,066 --> 00:00:58,943 Our ecosystem was dominated by giant, straight-tusked elephants, 22 00:00:58,943 --> 00:01:01,760 and if trees could not resist them, they would be wiped out. 23 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,258 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 24 00:01:04,258 --> 00:01:06,594 And the elephants in Britain, they were driven out 25 00:01:06,594 --> 00:01:08,465 by the ice into the southern Europe, 26 00:01:09,279 --> 00:01:12,575 and they persisted there till about forty thousand years ago. 27 00:01:12,575 --> 00:01:14,377 So did rhinos and hippos. 28 00:01:14,377 --> 00:01:16,400 Lions and hyenas lasted much longer. 29 00:01:17,228 --> 00:01:19,888 But they were all eventually wiped out by human hunters. 30 00:01:19,888 --> 00:01:26,158 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 31 00:01:26,158 --> 00:01:31,440 We live in a shadow land, in a dim, flattened relic of what there once was. 32 00:01:32,295 --> 00:01:33,307 (sheep bleating) 33 00:01:33,307 --> 00:01:36,728 And rewilding offers us this fantastic opportunity 34 00:01:36,728 --> 00:01:41,425 to start restoring systems or allowing them to restore themselves. 35 00:01:43,479 --> 00:01:47,664 I see it as reintroducing missing plants and animals, 36 00:01:47,664 --> 00:01:50,495 then stepping back and letting nature get on with it. 37 00:01:50,495 --> 00:01:56,478 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 38 00:01:57,010 --> 00:02:00,101 One estimate suggests that between 2000 and 2030, 39 00:02:00,741 --> 00:02:04,364 around 30 million hectares of land will be vacated by farmers 40 00:02:04,364 --> 00:02:05,714 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 41 00:02:05,714 --> 00:02:07,745 and that's an area the size of Poland. 42 00:02:07,745 --> 00:02:09,435 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 43 00:02:09,435 --> 00:02:11,968 So maybe, we're being a bit unambitious 44 00:02:11,968 --> 00:02:14,688 if we're talking about just wolves and lynx and bison 45 00:02:14,688 --> 00:02:17,958 and boar and beavers, which are already spreading fast across Europe. 46 00:02:17,958 --> 00:02:19,084 (various animal sounds) 47 00:02:19,084 --> 00:02:21,603 Perhaps we should also be thinking about bringing back 48 00:02:21,603 --> 00:02:23,039 some of the lost megafauna. 49 00:02:23,749 --> 00:02:25,180 It seems to me that rewilding 50 00:02:25,180 --> 00:02:27,990 offers us more than just the restoration of the ecosystem. 51 00:02:28,864 --> 00:02:31,887 It brings back into our lives a lot of thrill and wonder 52 00:02:31,887 --> 00:02:33,696 and enchantment. 53 00:02:33,696 --> 00:02:37,968 And wouldn't it be amazing if everybody had a Serengeti on their doorstep? 54 00:02:37,968 --> 00:02:39,471 ♪ (guitar music) ♪ 55 00:02:39,471 --> 00:02:41,228 Rewilding the ecosystem 56 00:02:41,228 --> 00:02:44,127 offers us a chance to rewild our own lives as well.