QUADRAT

QUADRAT researcher publishes interdisciplinary paper on decision-making in rewilding. QUADRAT DTP researcher Emma Cary has led an international team of social scientists in authoring a new paper on the use of critical social science in rewilding.

Titled ‘Five critical questions we should ask of rewilding projects—And that social science can help us answer’, the paper combines insights from human geography, history, sociology, anthropology and political ecology to unpack the social motivations behind influential rewilding projects in the UK, USA and Europe.

Published in the interdisciplinary journal People and Nature, the research highlights how the decisions made in these rewilding projects not only impact ecosystems, but are also deeply connected to people and societies. The authors identify five foundational questions to ask of rewilding projects to help align rewilding decision-making with justice principles, and to encourage better outcomes for nature and people.

A Plain Language Summary is also available.

The paper is published in the People and Nature and available open access at:  http://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70100

[Citation: Cary, E,. Jones, K., Thomas, V., Brieghel, S., Payo Payo, A., & Wartmann, F.M (2025). Five questions we should ask of rewilding projects – and that social science can help us answer, People and Nature http://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70100]

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Emma Cary is a Doctoral Researcher in Geography & Environment at the University of Aberdeen. She researches decision-making in restoration, rewilding and nature recovery projects, with a particular focus on how different types of knowledge are used and integrated in these initiatives.

Flurina Wartmann is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Aberdeen. Her research focuses on hybrid methodologies to investigate people-place relations and cultural landscape values related to nature restoration and rewilding.

Notes for Editors