The Rewilding Monitoring Framework
We’ve developed Britain’s first framework for monitoring rewilding progress, helping demonstrate the vital role it’s playing in creating ecological, social and economic change.
Why a framework is so vital
We’ve been increasingly been supporting the Rewilding Network – which connects members who are rewilding at scale across Britain – on what to measure and how to measure rewilding progress, in order to evidence change over time.
Rewilding is a dynamic process that can challenge the traditional target-led monitoring approaches used to track changes at more conventional nature conservation or restoration sites. Although many rewilding sites do already collect data and can demonstrate ecological, social and economic changes to a certain extent, there is – as yet – no comprehensive framework that lays out the most appropriate, measurable metrics for monitoring rewilding progress at sites across the three nations of England, Wales and Scotland.
That’s why we’ve led the way with the development of Britain’s first Rewilding Monitoring Framework – collaborating with rewilding practitioners and experts across multiple sectors to develop a robust system for measuring ecological, social and economic change across rewilding sites.
Download the Rewilding Monitoring Framework
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Practical guidance for practitioners
The guidance has been developed specifically for rewilding practitioners working on land and freshwater-based projects, including members of the Rewilding Network. It not only explains why we should be monitoring rewilding, but also how to measure change practically and cost-effectively, enabling practitioners to confidently establish or integrate indicators that best tell their project’s story.
Recognising that every project operates with differing resources and goals, we’ve striven to balance scientific rigour with the practicality of delivering rewilding in a challenging financing landscape. This pragmatic approach acknowledges the fact that there are many other valuable methodologies and indicators worth exploring beyond its pages.
A collaborative approach
We’ve worked with rewilding practitioners and experts across multiple sectors to ensure the framework is scientifically rigorous and easy to apply in a practical context.
Key stages included workshops to prioritise the top indicators with stakeholders, input from our informal advisory group of scientists and academics in the fields of ecology, environmental science and human dimensions of rewilding, and piloting the methodologies at rewilding sites across the Rewilding Network. We’d like to thank all those who’ve shared the knowledge, expertise and time in developing the guidance.
We see this document as very much the first iteraion of an adaptive framework that we will continue to evolve, informed both by the real data that rewilding projects collect and the rapid advancements in the monitoring landscape.
Building the evidence base
The framework is an important first step towards building the evidence base for rewilding, allowing us to demonstrate when and where rewilding is restoring natural processes and having wider beneficial impacts on individuals and communities.
The data will be instrumental in guiding rewilding projects and in helping decision-makers and stakeholders enable the expansion of rewilding across Britain that is so critical to addressing the nature and climate emergencies.
Rewilding Monitoring Framework webinar
If you’re keen to know more about the framework and hear from the experts and practitioners behind it, please join us at our webinar on Tuesday 21 April (1 – 2pm GMT, hosted on Zoom). We’ll be discussing the methodology and practical application of the Rewilding Monitoring Framework, with presentations followed by a Q&A. The session will be most suited to ecologists, policymakers, rewilding practitioners, and anyone with an interest in monitoring landscape change or data.
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