Passive rewilding: Difference between revisions

 

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===Asia===

===Asia===

[[File:Ta Phrom, Angkor, Camboya, 2013-08-16, DD 50.JPG|thumb|Roots of a [[Tetrameles]] reclaiming the gallery at [[Ta Prohm]]]]

The [[Al Madam]] village in the [[United Arab Emirates]] is a [[ghost town]] that is being reclaimed by the [[Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desert|desert]].<ref name=CNN/> The once-bustling village of [[Houtouwan]] in [[China]] has been entirely reclaimed by [[foliage]] plants after residents began to leave it in the 1990s.<ref name= vines>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/world/gallery/abandoned-chinese-village-ivy-vines/|title=Abandoned Chinese village swallowed by vines| website= CNN.com| date= June 12, 2015| access-date= 28 September 2025}}</ref> The village is also a tourist site now, where visitors can tour the abandoned, museum-like buildings.<ref name= focus>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/life-finds-a-way-when-nature-reclaims-abandoned-places|title=Life finds a way: when nature reclaims abandoned places| author= Hayley Bennett| website= sciencefocus.com| date= July 20, 2020| access-date= 28 September 2025}}</ref> Abandoned homes in the [[Fukushima Exclusion Zone]] are reclaimed by plant life, and the fauna there include [[Japanese macaque]]s, common [[raccoon dog]]s, [[Japanese serow ]]and [[red fox]]es.<ref name=CNN/>

The [[Al Madam]] village in the [[United Arab Emirates]] is a [[ghost town]] that is being reclaimed by the [[Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desert|desert]].<ref name=CNN/> The once-bustling village of [[Houtouwan]] in [[China]] has been entirely reclaimed by [[foliage]] plants after residents began to leave it in the 1990s.<ref name= vines>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/10/world/gallery/abandoned-chinese-village-ivy-vines/|title=Abandoned Chinese village swallowed by vines| website= CNN.com| date= June 12, 2015| access-date= 28 September 2025}}</ref> The village is also a tourist site now, where visitors can tour the abandoned, museum-like buildings.<ref name= focus>{{cite web|url=https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/life-finds-a-way-when-nature-reclaims-abandoned-places|title=Life finds a way: when nature reclaims abandoned places| author= Hayley Bennett| website= sciencefocus.com| date= July 20, 2020| access-date= 28 September 2025}}</ref> Abandoned homes in the [[Fukushima Exclusion Zone]] are reclaimed by plant life, and the fauna there include [[Japanese macaque]]s, common [[raccoon dog]]s, [[Japanese serow ]]and [[red fox]]es.<ref name=CNN/>

Passive rewilding, or ecological rewilding, is a type of rewilding and a form of ecological restoration aims to restore natural ecosystem processes via minimal or the total withdrawal of direct human management of the landscape,^[1] such as when land is abandoned.^[2][3][4][5] In simple terms, passive rewilding allows natural processes to restore themselves, and enables a certain level of chaos as woodlands reclaim territory, species return and natural disturbances such as fires, pests and floods contribute to the area.^[6]

Sometimes referred to as nature’s reclamation^[7] and naturalia^[8], it differs from other forms of rewilding in that direct human management is completely absent, whereby the environment is subsequently overgrown and occupied by natural elements.^[9]

There are three important factors to passive rewilding; reviving trophic complexity, or biodiversity, by allowing wildlife to return (such as by limiting hunting), though in other cases it may involve resettlement. The second factor is allowing landscapes to rejoin, so in a way that plants and animals can travel around. The third component is permitting erratic disturbances such as fires, pests and floods. However, allowing nature run haphazardly is unacceptable to the traditional methods of ecological restoration and can be a complicated matter to accept for westerners. Removing sheep is one of the first steps in passive rewilding in Britain, as they can eradicate wildflowers and other essential species. Though old pig breeds can remain as a substitute for wild boars. If there is a scarcity of plants, these species are replanted to promote their spread. Fences are also removed and wetlands are created, in addition to removing non-native species.^[6] A strong argument in favor of passive rewilding is the minimal cost approaches to restoration, particularly on a large scale. Though widespread forest growth can transform into a homogenous landscape, and biodiversity is generally against homogeneity. In Portugal, grazing animals such as the bison can clear land and establish open areas where biodiversity can thrive, whereas wild boars may disturb the soil as they search for food.^[6]

The abandonment of agricultural land use practices drives the natural establishment of forests through ecological succession in Spain.^[10] This spontaneous forest establishment has several consequences for society and nature, such as increase of fire risk and frequency and biodiversity loss.^[11] Regarding biodiversity loss, research findings from Mediterranean showed that this is very site-dependent.^[12] More recently, the abandonment of land is also discussed by some as an opportunity for rewilding in rural areas in Spain.^[13]

In abandoned towns or villages, wildlife will rebound and recolonize abandoned human structures, such as buildings, cities, and other man-made environments (i.e. agricultural lands), when given the chance. This opportunity is as basic as humans leaving a place to be regenerated by nature.^[9] Such places generally include temple ruins, which may be occupied with tree roots, quarries, to former war zones that are swarming with new ecosystems.^[14] In urban areas, moss covers disintegrating buildings, sand dunes engulf entire houses, and trees and animals scramble over former walkways.^[15] Abandoned human settlements and developments overtaken by foliage and wild animals are known to exist in numerous locations around the world. Ghost towns, disused railways, mines, and airfields, or areas experiencing urban decay or deindustrialization may be subject to a resurgence in ecological proliferation as human presence is reduced.

The aesthetics of nature’s reclamation of urban buildings has acquired the attention of artists, photographers and architects alike, who are attracted to decaying structures as sources of inspiration, as they serve as a reminder of impermanence and how beauty exists even in decay.^[16] Plants escaping gardens and rewilding the surrounding areas are called escaped plants, although these have detrimental effects on native species and communities, in addition to being weedy and invasive.^[17]

The Al Madam village in the United Arab Emirates is a ghost town that is being reclaimed by the desert.^[14] The once-bustling village of Houtouwan in China has been entirely reclaimed by foliage plants after residents began to leave it in the 1990s.^[18] The village is also a tourist site now, where visitors can tour the abandoned, museum-like buildings.^[19] Abandoned homes in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone are reclaimed by plant life, and the fauna there include Japanese macaques, common raccoon dogs, Japanese serow and red foxes.^[14]

Ta Prohm, a 12th century temple in Cambodia, has been reclaimed by large fig, banyan and kapok trees whose roots wrap the temple walls.^[14] Ross Island, South Andaman district, India, is largely abandoned and the area is now mostly consumed by the forest.^[15] In Hong Kong, aerial roots of over 1,100 banyan trees attach to walls and protrude through pavements and stone walls. Once called the ‘Poison Gas Island’, the island of Ōkunoshima is houses a thousand rabbits. A mall in Bangkok, which was half-demolished in 1997, now features aquatic life that flourish from the rainwater that has slowly filled the building.^[19]

The marooned wreck of SS Ayrfield in Parramatta River in Homebush has become a mangrove forest, and is therefore a protected marine vegetation critical for fish habitat. The remains of SS Yongala off the coast of Queensland is now home to hundreds of various species, that include loggerhead turtles, marbled electric rays, bull sharks and moray eels. In a village at Mangapurua Valley, New Zealand, historical farming and gardening efforts by soldiers and families indicates that most of the homes, culverts and farms in the Valley is now overrun with grass and marshes, with some fruit and rose trees surviving, indicating historical human presence.^[14]

Inchkeith in Scotland was a military defense for over 500 years and now it is home to seal pups, eider duck and European cave spiders. A former slate quarry in Wales was one of the largest producers of slate in the world before shutting down in 1969, and nature has consequentially been reclaiming the land. Chatterley Whitfield, which was a bustling coal mine in Staffordshire, is now reclaimed by buddleia, sunflowers, in addition to rabbits, foxes and badgers. Stack Rock Fort, Wales, is abandoned and reclaimed by plant life and sea birds.^[14] Nunhead Cemetery, established in the Victorian era, is now occupied by green ring-necked parakeets, a fungus called dead man’s fingers, and blackberry bushes growing on the graves.^[9] The once-comprehensively farmed Knepp Castle Estate in West Sussex is now a habitat to numerous rare species.^[6]

The winter villages in the region around Castro Laboreiro in Portugual have mostly been abandoned and forests have reclaimed them. Peneda Geres National Park in Portugal has become a cradle of passive rewilding, as it was once a leading boar territory, before centuries of farming and human influence that made them disappear from the area. In the 20th century, passive rewilding occurred in the region, where wild boar and even the ibex, which has been regionally extinct, have made a comeback to reclaim the area.^[6]

The stone buildings of Vallone dei Mulini in Sorrento, Italy, is thoroughly reclaimed by thick and dense vegetation. The valley today is a popular tourist attraction. Spreepark in Berlin, Germany, is cloaked with lush greenery, with moss covering some of the remaining rides. The Chernobyl exclusion zone is occupied by wolves, lynxes, brown bears, and 200+ species of bird, with streets and buildings being surrounded by overgrowth of vegetation.^[20]

The abandoned buildings in Año Nuevo Island are the breeding grounds for northern elephant seal, the endangered Steller’s sea lion and thousands of seabirds. Rewilding has occurred at a church ruin in Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico, with solidified lava encircling it.^[20] Calakmul, in the Mexican state of Campeche, is former Mayan city that is now invaded by the surrounding rainforest, and the causeways that cross the swampy land tend to support denser vegetation than the surrounding forest.^[21] Ilha da Queimada Grande in Brazil was inhabited by several lighthouse watchmen, who abandoned it since the 1920s, and is now home to the highly venomous Golden Lancehead, bats, lizards, the Southern house wren and bananaquit.^[14]

After people abandoned Kolmanskop, in Namibia, by 1956, the homes in the village became immersed in sand.^[19]