The governance of rewilding
PhD: The governance of rewilding in Scotland: discourse, process, and practice
PhD: The governance of rewilding in Scotland: discourse, process, and practice
Author: Alison Martin
Supervisors: Prof Anke Fischer, Dr Rob McMorran, and Prof Melanie Smith
Funder: Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
This thesis achieves a better understanding of rewilding governance and the processes which frame and steer rewilding within Scotland, with a particular interest in the ideas and practice of participation and the place of local communities in rewilding endeavours. Although rewilding is about natural ecological processes underpinned by ambitions to champion and facilitate nature’s autonomy, the human dimensions of rewilding are equally critical to the long-term success of rewilding at scale. Greater understanding as to who's interest a rewilding approach represents and how this is enacted is important if we are to address current and potential future rewilding conflicts and has implications for how the benefits (and costs) of rewilding are realised and distributed. This thesis contributes to our improved understanding of the human processes of rewilding specifically in terms of rewilding governance and decision-making through illuminating; (a) aspects of rewilding discourse (how rewilding is discussed, how this changes, and why), (b) rewilding process (who gets to be involved in rewilding decision-making and in what way), and (c) rewilding practice (the practicalities of different organisations working together to rewild).
Publications:
- Taming rewilding - from the ecological to the social: how rewilding discourse in Scotland has come to include people. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105677
- Who decides? The governance of rewilding in Scotland ‘between the cracks’: community participation, public engagement, and partnerships. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2023.01.007