Socio-Ecological Systems’ Transformation through Rewilding: a case of Scottish Highlands

Rewilding is a complex and increasingly important topic that bridges nature conservation with economic sustainability, and wider social issues. It is aimed at restoring natural ecosystems by reintroducing native species and allowing natural processes to prevail. Rewilding contributes to biodiversity aims and multiplies opportunities associated with putting nature on a path to recovery. However, its other dimensions are uncertain. The challenges may arise as to (i) connecting rewilding with stakeholders’ other values and interests; (ii) achieving more efficient spatial integration/segregation of land use systems and specifically regarding (iii) the linking of biodiversity conservation and rewilding with place-based practices and social innovation initiatives in mountain regions of Europe. This is the focus of this paper, which has Scotland as a case study.

Nearly 200 projects are dedicated to rewilding in Scotland (Armour, 2025). Discussions around the reintroduction of lynx, for example, indicate the importance to operate following transparent positions, involving stakeholders who need to come to an agreement on ‘best’ solutions. We analyse how the Scottish policy framework supports rewilding and associated stakeholder perceptions to enable such solutions to be achieved. Using an innovative combination of research methods, we examine public/stakeholder perceptions associated with rewilding and key trade-offs in-between. The integration of participatory, analytical and visualization tools, refined and applied at the James Hutton Institute has proven useful for assisting decision making by incorporating prevalent attitudes/perceptions of end users into the design of relevant policies, spatial plans and management practices associated with rewilding.

Our findings provide evidence that although in Scotland economic considerations remain strong, the cultural, health/wellbeing, and intrinsic values that people associate with nature are receiving increasing recognition. Decisions on undertaking rewilding are likely to benefit from developing social innovations and bringing deliberative approaches into monetary valuation of the societal benefits/costs of socio-ecological systems’ transformation. The findings also show that there is an understanding that the promotion of rewilding in some localities in Scotland, and especially in the Highlands, opens a pathway towards leveraging and multiplying forest benefits for society and the environment, potentially offering lessons that extend to other marginalised mountain regions of Europe.