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Defining marine rewilding can help guide theory and practice in marine conservation

Brooker, Esther; Midgley, Gerald; Burns, Neil; Trotman, Charlotte E; Gregory, Amanda; Hopkins, Charlotte

Authors

Esther Brooker

Neil Burns

Charlotte E Trotman

Amanda Gregory



Abstract

Public concern over global climate change and biodiversity loss has accelerated international efforts to restore natural ecosystems through nature-based solutions. Rewilding is a growing conservation approach encompassing the recovery of ecological and trophic complexity through interventions such as habitat restoration and/or species reintroduction. Here we explore the nascent efforts of marine rewilding using a systems thinking methodology to inform a systematic review and iterative thematic analysis. Marine rewilding involves a diverse range of interventions, showing similarities in ecological principles with terrestrial rewilding, yet it diverges from terrestrial rewilding in the scale of initiatives, predictability of outcomes, and the prominence of social inclusion. To make progress in offering unifying concepts, we propose a definition for marine rewilding: a systemic process requiring deliberate human intervention that involves community participation and ocean stewardship to regenerate degraded marine ecosystems.

Citation

Brooker, E., Midgley, G., Burns, N., Trotman, C. E., Gregory, A., & Hopkins, C. (2025). Defining marine rewilding can help guide theory and practice in marine conservation. Communications Earth & Environment, 6, Article 241. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02155-x

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 1, 2025
Online Publication Date Mar 28, 2025
Publication Date Mar 28, 2025
Deposit Date Mar 28, 2025
Publicly Available Date Mar 31, 2025
Print ISSN 2662-4435
Electronic ISSN 2662-4435
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 6
Article Number 241
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02155-x
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/5090135

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.






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