Wilding will help tackle climate change

By Fran Southgate

Landowner Advisor

Human-accelerated climate change is one of the most profound environmental changes that we will ever experience. Without a huge effort to limit CO2 emissions, the impacts of climate change felt by the natural world and all human society will be severe within the next 20 years.  

Last week, Rewilding Britain issued a call to the Government to act urgently to avert the worst of the predicted climate changes, and to limit the global temperature rises to 1.5°C or less. You can sign their online petition here. At 100,000 signatures, the petition is considered for debate in parliament.  

Rewilding and the restoration of our natural systems can draw millions of tonnes of CO2 out of the air. Britain is uniquely placed to help reduce climate change, with large areas of land with potential for locking up carbon in peatlands, woodland, wetlands and our seas. We can help to stop climate breakdown, but we need to be innovative, and we need to act fast.  

Sussex Wildlife Trust recently launched its Wilder Sussex campaign as part of the solution. This includes ideas of what you can do to help limit climate change, along with larger scale suggestions from organisations such as the Natural Climate Solutions network. As part of Sussex Wildlife Trust's campaign, we will be developing a rewilding network for Sussex. We would like to hear from anyone who is interested in joining a Wilder Sussex network. If you have land that you would like to re-wild, please contact our Landowner Advisor [email protected].