Environmentalists have suggested that 'rewilding' 25% of the UK's land would be an effective way of countering some of the worst consequences of the climate crisis that we find ourselves in (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/21/rewild-quarter-uk-fight-climate-crisis-campaigners-urge). This is not quite as easy as it sounds as:-
1) We would have to seriously curtail the presence of domestic and wild grazing animals (notably, sheep, goats and deer) from areas where forests could develop again, possibly also introducing natural predators to keep these herbivores in check;
2) Many of the selected areas are likely to be currently used for farming which would have consequences for the food supply of our over-populated islands;
3) The wild places would have to be inter-connected to be maximally effective, which might well involve removing some housing and roads and this would involve much compensation (along with that due to farmers);
4) There would probably be a need to regulate access to any rewilded areas (disturbance by humans and potential endangerment of folk would be issues) and this might well involve 'policing' of the boundaries;
5) One might have to consider a range of types of rewilded locations (perhaps with some that facilitate access by people for leisure and/or sport) which is likely to result in many issues
and 6) We would really also have to do something meaningful about rewilding the seas around our shores!
This one could run and run (as they say)!
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