Netherlands community action

Groningen ( GROH-ning-ən, UK also GRON-ing-ən, Dutch: [ˈɣroːnɪŋə(n)] ; Gronings: Grunn or Grunnen) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of the country; as of December 2021, it had 235,287 inhabitants, making it the sixth largest city/municipality in the Netherlands and the second largest outside the Randstad.

Groningen was established more than 950 years ago and gained city rights in 1245. Due to its relatively isolated location from the then successive Dutch centres of power (Utrecht, The Hague, Brussels), Groningen was historically reliant on itself and nearby regions. As a Hanseatic city, it was part of the North German trade network, but later it mainly became a regional market centre. At the height of its power in the 15th century, Groningen could be considered an independent city-state and it remained autonomous until the French era.

Today Groningen is a university city, home to some of the country's leading higher education institutes; University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), which is the Netherlands's second oldest university, and Hanze University of Applied Sciences (Hanzehogeschool Groningen). Students comprise an estimated 25% of its total population and makes it the country's demographically youngest city.

The origin and meaning of 'Groningen' and its older variant, 'Groeningen', are uncertain. A folk origin story relates the idea that, in 453 BC, exiles from Troy who were guided by a mythical figure called Gruno (or Grunius, Gryns or Grunus), along with a group of Phrygians from Germany, founded a settlement in what is now Groningen, and built a castle on the bank of the Hunze, which they called 'Grunoburg', and which was later destroyed by the Vikings.

One modern theory is that 'Groningen' meant 'among the people of Groni' ('Groningi' and 'Groninga' in the 11th century), derived from Gronesbeke, which was the old name for a small lake near the Hunze (on the northern border of Zuidlaarderveen). As the name Grone (variant Groene) is an old Frisian personal name, the origin may very well be in a settlement originally founded by the family of Grone and their followers, which in Frisian would be called Groninga. Another theory is that the name was derived from the word groenighe, meaning 'green fields'.

In Frisian, it is called Grins. In Groningen province, it is called Groot Loug. Regionally, it is often simply referred to as Stad (the "city"), and its inhabitants are referred to as Stadjers or Stadjeder. The Dutch sometimes refer to it as "the Metropolis of the North", or Martinistad (after the Martinitoren tower.)

The city was founded at the northernmost point of the Hondsrug area. While the oldest document referring to Groningen's existence dates from 1040, the area was occupied by Anglo-Saxons centuries prior. The oldest archaeological evidence of a settlement in the region stems from around 3950–3650 BC, and the first major settlement in Groningen trace back to the year 3 AD.

In the 13th century Groningen was an important trade centre and its inhabitants built a city wall to underline its authority. The city had a strong influence on its surrounding lands and the Gronings dialect became common. The city's most influential period was at the end of the 15th century, when the nearby province of Friesland was administered from Groningen. During these years the Martinitoren was built which is considered to be the city's most significant landmark.

In 1536, Groningen accepted Emperor Charles V, the King of Spain and the Habsburg ruler of the other Netherlands as its ruler, thus ending the region's autonomy. The city was captured in the Siege of Groningen (1594) by the Dutch and English forces led by Maurice of Nassau. After the siege, the city and the province joined the Dutch Republic.

During the 17th century, Groningen served as a crucial hub for the Dutch West India Company (WIC). This powerful trading company was responsible for maritime trade, colonization, and the transportation of goods and people.

The WIC transported over 300,000 slaves from the African coast to the Dutch colonies between 1621 and 1792. Warships like the Groeningen sailed from Groningen’s shipyards to Africa’s west coast, carrying enslaved Africans to plantations in Brazil, Suriname, and the Antilles. These same ships returned to Europe laden with valuable commodities such as sugar, coffee, and tobacco.

The University of Groningen was founded in 1614 with initial course offerings in law, medicine, theology and philosophy. During this period the city expanded rapidly and a new city wall was built.

The Siege of Groningen (1672) led by the bishop of Münster, Bernhard von Galen during the Third Anglo-Dutch War failed and the city walls resisted; an event that is celebrated annually with music and fireworks on 28 August as "Gronings Ontzet" or "Bommen Berend". In the early 19th century when the kingdom of Holland under king Jerôme Bonaparte was founded, Groningen was integrated into the French system of administration, and then annexed in 1811 into the French Empire under emperor Napoleon I (until 1813). During the French administration of the area, Groningen was called Groningue.

During World War II, the main square and the Grote Markt were largely destroyed in the Battle of Groningen in April 1945. However, the church Martinitoren, the Goudkantoor, and the city hall were undamaged.

There is a town named after Groningen in Saramacca District, Suriname. a former Dutch colony. It was named after the hometown of Dutch governor-general of Suriname Jan Wichers, who established the town as a fort in 1790.

Numerous canals (grachten) surround the city, locally called diep. The major canals that travel from the city are the Van Starkenborghkanaal, Eemskanaal, and Winschoterdiep. Groningen’s canals, no longer used for commercial goods transport, were once vital hubs in trade and transport. The rivers crossing close to the Binnenstad have been used for trade for at least a thousand years. The Dutch West India Company and foreign investors established their Groningen headquarters in Reitemakersrijge. Additional warehouses were strategically built along the canals at Noorderhaven to store colonial produce. These warehouses often held goods obtained from plantations in the Dutch colonies.

Groningen has an oceanic temperate climate, like all of the Netherlands, although slightly colder in winter than other major cities in the Netherlands due to its northeasterly position. Weather is influenced by the North Sea to the north-west and its prevailing north-western winds and gales.

Summers are somewhat warm and humid. Temperatures of 30 °C (86 °F) or higher occur sporadically; the average daytime high is around 22 °C (72 °F). Very rainy periods are common, especially in spring and summer. Average annual precipitation is about 800 mm (31 in). Annual sunshine hours vary, but are usually below 1600 hours, giving much cloud cover similar to most of the Netherlands. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb". (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).

Winters are cool; on average above freezing, although frosts are common during spells of easterly winds. Night-time temperatures of −10 °C (14 °F) or lower are not uncommon during cold winter periods. The lowest temperature ever recorded is −26.8 °C (−16.2 °F) on 16 February 1956. Snow often falls, but rarely stays long due to warmer daytime temperatures, although white snowy days happen every winter.

Hotel and catering industries constitute a significant part of the economy in Groningen. Focus on business services has increased over time and areas such as IT, life sciences, tourism, energy, and environment have developed.

Until 2008 there were two major sugar refineries within the city. The Suiker Unie plant was constructed in the outskirts of Groningen, but became a part of the city due to expansion. The factory had 98 employees before it was closed in 2008 due to a reduction in demand. As of 2017, CSM Vierverlaten in Hoogkerk remains the only beet sugar production plant in the city. Other notable companies from Groningen include publishing company Noordhoff Uitgevers, tobacco company Niemeyer, health insurance company Menzis, distillery Hooghoudt, and natural gas companies GasUnie and GasTerra.

As of 2020, Groningen had a total population of 232,874 people.

The majority of people in Groningen, slightly more than 70%, are non-religious. With 25.1%, the largest religion in Groningen is Christianity.

The municipality of Groningen has grown rapidly. In 1968 it expanded by mergers with Hoogkerk and Noorddijk, and in 2019 it merged with Haren and Ten Boer.All historical data are for the original city limits, excluding Hoogkerk, Noorddijk, Haren and Ten Boer.

It has a land area of 168.93 km² (65.22 sq mi), and a total area, including water, of 180.21 km² (69.58 sq mi). Its population density is 1,367 residents per km² (3,540 per square mile). On 1 January 2019, it was merged with the municipalities of Ten Boer and Haren. The Groningen-Assen metropolitan area has about half a million inhabitants.

Groningen is nationally known as the "Metropolis of the North". The city is regarded as the main urban centre of the Northern part of the country, particularly in the fields of education, business, music and other arts. It is also known as "Martinistad", referring to the tower of the Martinitoren, which is named after Groningen's patron saint Martin of Tours. The large student population also contributes to the very diverse cultural scene for a city of its size.

Since 2016 Groningen has been host of the International Cycling Film Festival, an annual film festival for bicycle related films. It takes place in the art house cinema of the old Roman Catholic Hospital.

The first major international chess tournament after World War II was held in Groningen in 1946. The tournament, won by Mikhail Botvinnik of the USSR, was the first time the Soviet Union had sent a team to a foreign event. An international chess "Schaakfestival Groningen tournament" has been held in the city in most years since 1946.

Groningen is home to the Groninger Museum. Its new building designed by Alessandro Mendini in 1994 echoes the Italian post-modern concepts and is notable for its futuristic and colourful style. The city has a maritime museum, a university museum, a comics museum and a graphics museum. Groningen is also the home of Noorderlicht, an international photographic platform that runs a photo gallery and organizes an international photo festival. The Forum Groningen that opened in 2019 is a cultural center consisting of a museum, art cinema, library, bars, rooftop terrace and tourist information office.

Groningen has a city theatre called the Stadsschouwburg, located on the Turfsingel, a theatre and concert venue called Martini Plaza, and a cultural venue on the Trompsingel, called the Oosterpoort. Vera is located on the Oosterstraat, the Grand Theatre on the Grote Markt, and Simplon on the Boterdiep. Several cafés feature live music, a few of which specialize in jazz music, including the Jazzcafe De Spieghel on the Peperstraat. Groningen is the host city for Eurosonic Noorderslag, an annual music showcase event for bands from across Europe.

Groningen's active nightlife depends largely on its student population, with the Grote Markt, Vismarkt, Poelestraat and Peperstraat crowded nightly, most bars not closing until five in the morning. From 2005 to 2007, Groningen was named "best city centre" of the Netherlands. Groningen has a red-light district, called Nieuwstad.

FC Groningen, founded in 1971, is the local football club, and as of 2000 they play in the Eredivisie, the highest football league of the Netherlands. Winners of the KNVB Cup in the 2014–15 season, their best Eredivisie result was in the 1990–91 season when they finished third. Their current stadium which opened in January 2006 has 22,525 seats. It is called the Hitachi Capital Mobility Stadion; it was known as the "Euroborg stadium" before 2016, and "Noordlease Stadion" from 2016 to 2018.

American sports are fairly popular in Groningen; it has American football, baseball, and basketball clubs. Groningen's professional basketball club Donar play in the highest professional league, the Dutch Basketball League, and have won the national championship seven times. The Groningen Giants are the American football team of the city who play in the premier league of the AFBN and are nicknamed as the "Kings of the North".

The running event called 4 Miles of Groningen takes place in the city on the second Sunday of October every year with over 23,000 participants. The 2002 Giro d'Italia began in Groningen, including the prologue and the start of the first stage. The city hosted the start and finish of the fifth stage of the 2013 Energiewacht Tour.

As of 2020, around 25% of the 230,000 inhabitants in Groningen are students. The city has the highest density of students and the lowest mean age in the Netherlands.

There are also Middle Schools, such as H.N. Werkman College

The University of Groningen (in Dutch: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), established in 1614 is the second oldest university in the Netherlands (after the University of Leiden). The university educated the country's first female student, Aletta Jacobs, the first Dutch national astronaut, Wubbo Ockels, the first president of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg, and two Nobel laureates; Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (in Physics) and Ben Feringa (in Chemistry). The university has about 31,000 students—22% of which are international.

The Hanze University of Applied Sciences (in Dutch: Hanzehogeschool Groningen) was founded in 1986 and is more focused on the practical application of knowledge, offering bachelor and master courses in fields like Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Communication and Multimedia Design, and Renewable Energy. With around 8.1% international students, Hanze hosts more than 28,000 students and is one of the largest universities of applied sciences by enrollment in the Netherlands.

The Groningen municipal council has 45 members which, after the 2022 local elections, was made up as follows:

From 2022, the ruling municipal coalition consisted of GroenLinks, PvdA, Party for the Animals, the Socialist Party and ChristenUnie.

Groningen is twinned with the following cities:

Groningen also has a trilateral partnership with the nearby northern German cities of Bremen and Oldenburg.

Groningen is known as the "World Cycling City"; around 57% of its residents use a bicycle for regular commute within the city. In 2000, Groningen was chosen as the Fietsstad 2002, the top cycle-city in the Netherlands for 2002. Similar to most Dutch cities, Groningen has developed to accommodate a large number of cyclists. An extensive network of bike paths were planned to make it more convenient to cycle to various destinations instead of taking a car.

The city has segregated cycle-paths, public transport, and a large pedestrianised zone in the city centre. Groningen's city centre was remodeled into a "pedestrian priority zone" to promote walking and biking. This was achieved by applying the principle of filtered permeability—the network configuration favours active transportation and selectively "filters out" traveling in a car by reducing the number of streets that run through the centre. The streets that are discontinuous for cars connect to a network of pedestrian and bike paths which permeate the entire centre. In addition, these paths go through public squares and open spaces, increasing aesthetic appeal and encouraging participation. The logic of filtering a mode of transport is fully expressed in a comprehensive model for laying out neighbourhoods and districts—the fused grid.

Groningen railway station (in Dutch: Hoofdstation) is the main railway station and has regular services to most of the major cities in the country. The city's remaining two railway stations are Europapark and Noord.

Groningen has six railway routes:

• Groningen – Delfzijl
• Groningen – Roodeschool / Eemshaven
• Groningen – Leeuwarden
• Groningen – Veendam
• Groningen – Weener / Leer
• Groningen – Meppel / Zwolle

On those six routes, ten lines stop at:

• Groningen – Groningen North – Sauwerd – Bedum – Stedum – Loppersum – Appingedam – Delfzijl West – Delfzijl
• Groningen – Groningen North – Sauwerd – Winsum – Baflo – Warffum – Usquert – Uithuizen – Uithuizermeeden – Roodeschool – (Low Service) Eemshaven
• Groningen – Zuidhorn – Grijpskerk – Buitenpost – De Westereen – Feanwâlden – Hurdegaryp – Leeuwarden Camminghaburen – Leewarden
• Groningen – Buitenpost – Leewarden
• Groningen – Groningen Europapark – Kropswolde – Martenshoek – Hoogezand-Sappemeer – Sappemeer oost – Zuidbroek – Veendam
• Groningen – Groningen Europapark – Kropswolde – Martenshoek – Hoogezand-Sappemeer – Sappemeer oost – Zuidbroek – Scheemda – Winschoten – (Lower service) Bad Nieuweschans – Weener – (Due to a broken bridge, trains do not go on to Leer. Take a bus from Groningen or Weener)
• Groningen – Groningen Europapark – Haren – Assen – Beilen – Hoogeveen – Meppel – Zwolle
• Groningen – Assen – Zwolle – Amersfoort Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Gouda – Rotterdam Alexander – Rotterdam Centraal
• Groningen – Assen – Zwolle – Lelystad Centrum – Almere Centrum – Amsterdam South – Schiphol – Leiden Centraal – Den Haag Centraal / The Hague Centraal

Direct bus routes from Groningen to Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin, and Munich are also available.

The A28 motorway connects Groningen to Utrecht (via Assen, Zwolle and Amersfoort). The A7 motorway connects it to Friesland and Zaandam (West), and Winschoten and Leer (East).

Groningen Airport Eelde is an international airport located near Eelde, in Drenthe, with scheduled services to Guernsey, Gran Canaria, Antalya, Crete, Mallorca & Bodrum.

• Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603–1659), explorer, seafarer, merchant for the Dutch East India Company
• Albert Dominicus Trip van Zoudtlandt (1776–1835), lieutenant-general at the Battle of Waterloo
• Geert Adriaans Boomgaard (1788–1899), soldier, first validated supercentenarian
• Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926), physicist, Nobel laureate
• Dirk Jan de Geer (1870–1960), statesman and Dutch Prime Minister (1926–29, 1939–40), advocated peace settlement between the Netherlands and Nazi Germany in 1940
• A. W. L. Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer (1888–1978), last colonial Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies
• Michel Velleman (1895–1943), Jewish magician
• Jan Wolthuis (1903–1983), lawyer and collaborator, active in far-right politics after WWII
• Esmée van Eeghen (1918–1944), Dutch resistance member executed by the Nazis in Paddepoel, Noorddijk
• Pete Hoekstra (born 1953), United States ambassador to the Netherlands, former Republican member of Congress representing Michigan's 2nd congressional district
• Gerard Kemkers (born 1967), speed skating bronze medalist at 1988 Winter Olympics
• Anda Kerkhoven (1919–1945), Dutch resistance member executed by the Nazis near Glimmen
• Bauke Mollema (born 1986), cyclist
• Kim Feenstra (born 1985), model
• Ben Woldring (born 1985), internet entrepreneur
• Noisia (2000–present), music producers
• Vicetone (2012-present), DJ and music producer duo

• Sint Geertruidsgasthuis, a hofje in Groningen
• Hunze

• Lourens, Piet; Lucassen, Jan (1997). Inwonertallen van Nederlandse steden ca. 1300–1800. Amsterdam: NEHA. ISBN 9057420082.

• Official website (in Dutch)

Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration aimed at increasing biodiversity and restoring natural processes. It differs from other forms of ecological restoration in that rewilding aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems. It is also distinct from other forms of restoration in that, while it places emphasis on recovering geographically specific sets of ecological interactions and functions that would have maintained ecosystems prior to human influence, rewilding is open to novel or emerging ecosystems which encompass new species and new interactions.

A key feature of rewilding is its focus on replacing human interventions with natural processes. Rewilding enables the return of intact large mammal assemblages. This implies the natural groupings of large mammal species in an area to promote the restoration of trophic networks. The mechanism of rewilding is a process of rebuilding, to restore natural ecosystems by introducing or re-introducing large mammals to promote resilient, self-regulating, and self-sustaining ecosystems. Rewilding projects are usually part of programs for habitat restoration and conservation biology, and ideally they should be based on sound ecological theory and evidence.

While rewilding initiatives can be controversial, the United Nations has listed rewilding as one of several methods needed to achieve massive scale restoration of natural ecosystems, which they say must be accomplished by 2030 as part of the 30x30 campaign.

The term rewilding was coined by members of the grassroots network Earth First!, first appearing in print in 1990. It was refined and grounded in a scientific context in a paper published in 1998 by conservation biologists Michael Soulé and Reed Noss. Soulé and Noss envisaged rewilding as a conservation method based on the concept of 'cores, corridors, and carnivores'. The key components of rewilding incorporate large core protected areas, keystone species, and ecological connectivity based on the theory that large predators play regulatory roles in ecosystems. 3Cs rewilding therefore relied on protecting 'core' areas of wild land, linked together by 'corridors' allowing passage for 'carnivores' to move around the landscape and perform their functional role. The concept was developed further in 1999 and Earth First co-founder, Dave Foreman, subsequently wrote a full-length book on rewilding as a conservation strategy.

Rewilding was developed as a method to preserve functional ecosystems and reduce biodiversity loss, incorporating research in island biogeography and the ecological role of large carnivores. In 1967, The Theory of Island Biogeography by Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson established the importance of considering the size and fragmentation of wildlife conservation areas, stating that protected areas remained vulnerable to extinctions if small and isolated. In 1987, William D. Newmark's study of extinctions in national parks in North America added weight to the theory. The publications intensified debates on conservation approaches. With the creation of the Society for Conservation Biology in 1985, conservationists began to focus on reducing habitat loss and fragmentation.

Supporters of rewilding initiatives range from individuals, small land owners, local non-governmental organizations and authorities, to national governments and international non-governmental organizations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature. While small-scale efforts are generally well regarded the increased popularity of rewilding has generated controversy, especially regarding large-scale projects. These have sometimes attracted criticism from academics and practicing conservationists, as well as government officials and business people.In a 2021 report for the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the United Nations listed rewilding as one of several restoration methods which they state should be used for ecosystem restoration of over 1 billion hectares.

Since its origin, the term rewilding has been used as a signifier of particular forms of ecological restoration projects (or advocacy thereof) that have ranged widely in scope and geographic application. In 2021 the journal Conservation Biology published a paper by 33 coauthors from around the world. Titled, 'Guiding Principles for Rewilding'. Researchers and project leaders from North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States) joined with counterparts in Europe (Denmark, France, Hungary, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the UK), China, and South America (Chile and Colombia) to produce a unifying description, along with a set of ten guiding principles.

The group wrote, 'Commonalities in the concept of rewilding lie in its aims, whereas differences lie in the methods used, which include land protection, connectivity conservation, removing human infrastructure, and species reintroduction or taxon replacement.' Referring to the span of project types they stated, 'Rewilding now incorporates a variety of concepts, including Pleistocene megafauna replacement, taxon replacement, species reintroductions, retrobreeding, release of captive-bred animals, land abandonment, and spontaneous rewilding.'

Empowered by a directive from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to produce a document on rewilding that reflected a global scale inventory of underlying goals as well as practices, the group sought a 'unifying definition', producing the following:

'Rewilding is the process of rebuilding, following major human disturbance, a natural ecosystem by restoring natural processes and the complete or near complete food web at all trophic levels as a self-sustaining and resilient ecosystem with biota that would have been present had the disturbance not occurred. This will involve a paradigm shift in the relationship between humans and nature. The ultimate goal of rewilding is the restoration of functioning native ecosystems containing the full range of species at all trophic levels while reducing human control and pressures. Rewilded ecosystems should—where possible—be self-sustaining. That is, they require no or minimal management (i.e., natura naturans [nature doing what nature does]), and it is recognized that ecosystems are dynamic.'

Ten principles were developed by the group:

1. Rewilding utilizes wildlife to restore trophic interactions.
2. Rewilding employs landscape-scale planning that considers core areas, connectivity, and co-existence.
3. Rewilding focuses on the recovery of ecological processes, interactions, and conditions based on reference ecosystems.
4. Rewilding recognizes that ecosystems are dynamic and constantly changing.
5. Rewilding should anticipate the effects of climate change and where possible act as a tool to mitigate impacts.
6. Rewilding requires local engagement and support.
7. Rewilding is informed by science, traditional ecological knowledge, and other local knowledge.
8. Rewilding is adaptive and dependent on monitoring and feedback.
9. Rewilding recognizes the intrinsic value of all species and ecosystems.
10. Rewilding requires a paradigm shift in the coexistence of humans and nature.

Large mammals can influence ecosystems by altering biogeochemical pathways as they contribute to unique ecological roles, they are landscape engineers that aid in shaping the structure and composition of natural habitats. Rewilding can mitigate global climate change by restoring ecosystems. An example of this would be rewilding pasture land, thereby reducing the number of cows and sheep and increasing the number of trees.

The long-term shifts in weather pattern and temperature reflect a range of changes from threatening biodiversity to ecosystem functioning. Large herbivores and carnivores contribute to key processes to influence climate change mediation and adaptation across terrestrial ecosystems. Rewilding enhances ecosystem functioning and services by long term maintenance of carbon stocks. The most beneficial effects on biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem structure are reported through rewilding large herbivore species.

Trophic rewilding can enhance the carbon capture and storage of ecosystems and has been posited as a "natural climate solution". The functional roles animals perform in an ecosystem, such as grazing, nutrient cycling and seed distribution, can influence the amount of carbon soils and plants capture in both marine and terrestrial environments. The carbon cycle is altered through herbivores consuming vegetation and assimilating carbon within their own biomass, releasing additional carbon by respiration and defecation after digestion. A study in a tropical forest in Guyana found that an increase in mammal species from 5 to 35 increased tree and soil carbon storage by four to five times, compared to an increase of 3.5 to four times with an increase of tree species from 10 to 70.

Large mammals can also mitigate climate change through increased albedo effects, the ability to reflect heat from the sunlight. Large herbivores reduce woody cover through browsing and trampling, exposing more ground surface. Initiating a strong net surface cooling effect during spring and autumn seasons by reducing local surface temperatures. Therefore, large-bodied mammals contribute to the Earth's overall atmospheric albedo.

For example, the loss of wildebeest from the Serengeti led to an increase in ungrazed grass, leading to more frequent and intense fires, and causing the grassland to turn from a carbon sink into a carbon source. When disease management practices restored the population, the Serengeti returned to a carbon sink state.

Passive rewilding (also referred to as ecological rewilding) aims to restore natural ecosystem processes via minimal or the total withdrawal of direct human management of the landscape.

Active rewilding is an umbrella term used to describe a range of rewilding approaches all of which involve human intervention. These might include species reintroductions or translocations and/or habitat engineering and the removal of man-made structures.

Trophic rewilding is an ecological restoration strategy focussed on restoring trophic interactions (specifically top-down and associated trophic cascades where a top consumer/predator controls the primary consumer population) through species introductions, in order to promote self-regulating biodiverse ecosystems. Restoring trophic complexity, especially if this effort brings back functionally important trophic cascades, is the main goal of trophic rewilding.

Pleistocene rewilding is the advocacy of the reintroduction of extant Pleistocene megafauna, or the close ecological equivalents of extinct megafauna, to restore ecosystem function. Advocates of the approach maintain that communities where species evolved in response to Pleistocene megafauna (but now lack large mammals) may be in danger of collapse, while critics argue that it is unrealistic to assume that communities today are functionally similar to their state 10,000 years ago. European bison is one example of species reintroduced as part of Pleistocene rewilding in Europe and Britain.

Rewilding aims to restore three key ecological processes: trophic complexity, dispersal, and stochastic disturbances.

A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance.

One example of ecosystem engineers are powerful ground-disrupting animals that push over trees, trample shrubs and dig holes. These ensure that trees in grasslands do not become dominant. Some of these species used in rewilding efforts include beaver, elephants, bison, elk, cattle (as analogues for the extinct aurochs). These species also disperse seeds in their dung. Pig species, originally wild boar, dig creating soil where new plants can grow. Beavers are another important example of ecosystem engineers. The dams they build create micro-ecosystems that can be used as spawning beds for salmon and collect invertebrates for the salmon fry to feed on. The dams also create wetlands for plant, insect, and bird life. Specific trees, such as alder, birch, cottonwood, and willow, are important to beaver's diets and should be encouraged to grow in areas near beavers.

Predators may be required to ensure that browsing and grazing animals are kept from over-breeding/over-feeding, destroying vegetation complexity, as may be concluded from mass-starvations which happened in Oostvaardersplassen. Some examples of these predators are Eurasian lynx and wolves. However, although it is generally undebated that predators occupy an important role in ecosystems, there is no general agreement about whether wild predators keep herbivore populations in check, or whether their influence is of more subtle nature (see Ecology of fear). By analogy, wildebeest populations in the Serengeti are primarily controlled by food constraints despite the presence of many predators. The consequence is natural mass-starvation.

A view expressed by some national governments and officials within multilateral agencies such as the United Nations, is that excessive rewilding, such as large rigorously enforced protected areas where no extraction activities are allowed, can be too restrictive on people's ability to earn sustainable livelihoods. The alternative view is that increasing ecotourism can provide employment.

Some farmers have been critical of rewilding for 'abandoning productive farmland when the world's population is growing'. Farmers have also attacked plans to reintroduce the lynx in the United Kingdom because of fears that reintroduction will lead to an increase in sheep predation.

Rewilding has been criticized by animal rights scholars, such as Dale Jamieson, who argues that "most cases of rewilding or reintroducing are likely to involve conflicts between the satisfaction of human preferences and the welfare of nonhuman animals." Erica von Essen and Michael Allen, using Donaldson and Kymlicka's political animal categories framework, assert that wildness standards imposed on animals are arbitrary and inconsistent with the premise that wild animals should be granted sovereignty over the territories that they inhabit and the right to make decisions about their own lives. To resolve this, von Essen and Allen contend that rewilding needs to shift towards full alignment with mainstream conservation and welcome full sovereignty, or instead take full responsibility for the care of animals who have been reintroduced. Ole Martin Moen argues that rewilding projects should be brought to an end because they unnecessarily increase wild animal suffering and are expensive, and the funds could be better spent elsewhere.

The environmental historian Dolly Jørgensen argues that rewilding, as it currently exists, 'seeks to erase human history and involvement with the land and flora and fauna. Such an attempted split between nature and culture may prove unproductive and even harmful.' She calls for rewilding to be more inclusive to combat this. Jonathan Prior and Kim J. Ward challenge Jørgensen's criticism and provide existing examples of rewilding programs which 'have been developed and governed within the understanding that human and non-human world are inextricably entangled'.

Some conservationists have expressed concern that rewilding 'could replace the traditional protection of rare species on small nature reserves', which could potentially lead to an increase in habitat fragmentation and species loss. David Nogués-Bravo and Carsten Rahbek assert that the benefits of rewilding lack evidence and that such programs may inadvertently lead to 'de-wilding', through the extinction of local and global species. They also contend that rewilding programs may draw funding away from 'more scientifically supported conservation projects'.

Both grassroots groups and major international conservation organizations have incorporated rewilding into projects to protect and restore large-scale core wilderness areas, corridors (or connectivity) between them, and apex predators, carnivores, or keystone species (species which interact strongly with the environment, such as elephant and beaver). Projects include the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative in North America (also known as Y2Y) and the European Green Belt, built along the former Iron Curtain, transboundary projects, including those in southern Africa funded by the Peace Parks Foundation, community-conservation projects, such as the wildlife conservancies of Namibia and Kenya, and projects organized around ecological restoration, including Gondwana Link, regrowing native bush in a hotspot of endemism in southwest Australia, and the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, restoring dry tropical forest and rainforest in Costa Rica.

In North America, a major project aims to restore the prairie grasslands of the Great Plains. The American Prairie is reintroducing bison on private land in the Missouri Breaks region of north-central Montana, with the goal of creating a prairie preserve larger than Yellowstone National Park.^{: 187–199}

Dam removal has led to the restoration of many river systems in the Pacific Northwest. This has been done in an effort to restore salmon populations specifically but with other species in mind. As stated in an article on environmental law, 'These dam removals provide perhaps the best example of large-scale environmental remediation in the twenty-first century. This restoration, however, has occurred on a case-by-case basis, without a comprehensive plan. The result has been to put into motion ongoing rehabilitation efforts in four distinct river basins: the Elwha and White Salmon in Washington and the Sandy and Rogue in Oregon.'

In 1997, Douglas and Kris Tompkins created 'The Conservation Land Trust Argentina', a team of conservationists and scientists with the goal of transforming the Iberá Wetlands. Thanks to the team and a donation of 195,094 ha (482,090 acres) of land made by Kris, in 2018 an area was converted into a National Park, and the jaguar was reintroduced into it, a species that had been extinct in the region for seven decades. They also introduced anteaters and giant otters. A spin-off of the Tompkins Foundation, Rewilding Argentina is an organization that is dedicated to the restoration of El Impenetrable National Park, in Chaco, Patagonia Park, in Santa Cruz, and the Patagonian coastal area in the province of Chubut, in addition to Iberá National Park.

In Tijuca National Park (Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil), two important seed dispersers, the red-humped agouti and the brown howler monkey, were reintroduced between years 2010 and 2017. The goal of the reintroductions was to restore seed dispersal interactions between seed dispersing animals and fleshy-fruited trees. The agoutis and howler monkeys interacted with several plant and dung beetle species. Before reintroductions, the national park did not have large or intermediate -sized seed dispersers, meaning that the increased dispersal of tree seeds following the reintroductions can have a large effect on forest regeneration in the national park. The Tijuca National Park is part of heavily fragmented Atlantic Forest, where there is potential to restore many more seed dispersal interactions if seed dispersing mammals and birds are reintroduced to forest patches where the tree species diversity remains high.

Rewilding is newer in Australia than in Europe and North America, but there are many projects underway across the country as of 2023. Colonisation has had a huge impact on the native flora and fauna, and the introduction of red foxes and cats has devastated many of the smaller ground-dwelling mammals. The island state of Tasmania has become an important location for rewilding efforts because, as an island, it is easier to remove feral cat populations and manage other invasive species. The reintroduction and management of the Tasmanian devil in this state, and dingoes on the mainland, is being trialled in an effort to contain introduced predators, as well as over-populations of kangaroos.

WWF-Australia has a program called 'Rewilding Australia' which aims to 'test strategies to increase resilience and adaptability to these current and future threats'. Its projects include the platypus in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney, eastern quolls in the Booderee National Park in Jervis Bay and at Silver Plains in Tasmania, and brush-tailed bettongs in the Marna Banggara project on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. Other projects around the country include:

• Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary, NSW – many species
• Mongo Valley, NSW – koalas
• Bungador Stoney Rises Nature Reserve, Victoria – spotted-tail quoll, koala, long-nosed potoroo
• Mount Zero-Taravale Sanctuary, Queensland – several species
• Dirk Hartog Island National Park, Western Australia – many species
• Marna Banggara, SA – also red-tailed phascogales and bandicoots
• Clarke Island/Lungtalanana, Tasmania – several species
• Other locations around Tasmania - Tasmanian devils and (proposed) emus

In 2011, the 'Rewilding Europe' initiative was established with the aim of rewilding one million hectares of land in ten areas including the western Iberian Peninsula, Velebit, the Carpathians and the Danube delta by 2020, mostly abandoned farmland among other identified candidate sites. The present project considers only species that are still present in Europe, such as the Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx, grey wolf, European jackal, brown bear, chamois, Iberian ibex, European bison, red deer, griffon vulture, cinereous vulture, Egyptian vulture, great white pelican and horned viper, along with a few primitive breeds of domestic horse/Przewalski's horse and cattle as proxies for the extinct tarpan and aurochs. Since 2012, Rewilding Europe has been heavily involved in the Tauros Programme, which seeks to create a breed of cattle that resembles the aurochs, the wild ancestors of domestic cattle, by selectively breeding existing breeds of cattle. Many projects also employ domestic water buffalo as a grazing analogue for the extinct European water buffalo.

Areas of rewilding include the Côa River, a Natura 2000 area.European Wildlife, established in 2008, advocates the establishment of a European Centre of Biodiversity at the German–Austrian–Czech borders, and the Chernobyl exclusion zone in Ukraine.

Der Biosphärenpark Wienerwald was created in Austria in 2003. Within this area 37 kernzonen (core zones) covering 5,400 ha in total were designated areas free from human interference.

Rewilding Britain, a charity founded in 2015, aims to promote rewilding in Britain and is a leading advocate of rewilding. Rewilding Britain has laid down 'five principles of rewilding' which it expects to be followed by affiliated rewilding projects. These are to support people and nature together, to "let nature lead", to create resilient local economies, to "work at nature's scale" and to secure benefits for the long-term. In practice rewilding as effected by private landowners and managers takes many different forms, with emphases placed on varying aspects.

Celtic Reptile & Amphibian is a limited company established in 2020, with the aim of reintroducing extinct species of reptile and amphibian (such as the European pond turtle, moor frog, agile frog, common tree frog and pool frog) to Britain, as part of rewilding schemes. Success has already been achieved with the captive breeding of the moor frog. A reintroduction trial of the European pond turtle to its historic, Holocene range in the East Anglian Fens, Brecks and Broads has been initiated, with support from the University of Cambridge.

In 2020, nature writer Melissa Harrison reported a significant increase in attitudes supportive of rewilding among the British public, with plans recently approved for the release of European bison, Eurasian elk, and great bustard in England, along with calls to rewild as much as 20% of the land in East Anglia, and even return apex predators such as the Eurasian lynx, brown bear, and grey wolf. More recently, academic work on rewilding in England has highlighted that support for rewilding is by no means universal. As in other countries, rewilding in England remains controversial to the extent that some of its more ambitious aims are being 'domesticated' both in a proactive attempt to make it less controversial and in reactive response to previous controversy. Projects may also refer to their activity using terminology other than 'rewilding', possibly for political and diplomatic reasons, taking account of local sentiment or possible opposition. Examples include 'Sanctuary Nature Recovery Programme' (at Broughton) and 'nature restoration project', the preferred term used by the Cambrian Wildwood project, an area aspiring to encompass 7,000 acres in Wales.

Notable rewilding sites include:

• Knepp Wildland. The 3,500 acre (1,400 hectare) Knepp Castle estate in West Sussex was the first major pioneer of rewilding in England, and started that land-management policy there in 2001 on land formerly used as dairy farmland. Rare species including common nightingale, turtle doves, peregrine falcons and purple emperor butterflies are now breeding at Knepp and populations of more common species are increasing. In 2019 a pair of white storks built a nest in an oak tree at Knepp, part of a group imported from Poland, the result of a programme to re-introduce that species to England run by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, which has overseen reintroductions of other extinct bird species to the UK.
• Broughton Hall Estate, Yorkshire. In 2021 about 1,100 acres (a third of the estate) have been devoted to rewilding, with advice from Prof. Alastair Driver of Rewilding Britain.
• Mapperton Estate, Dorset, largely inspired by the work at Knepp. At Mapperton one of the five farms comprising the estate entered the process of re-wilding in 2021, accounting for 200 acres.
• Alladale Wilderness Reserve, Sutherland, Scotland. This 23,000 acre estate hosts many species of wildlife, and engages in rewilding projects such as peatland and forest restoration, captive breeding of the Scottish wildcat, and reintroduction of the red squirrel. Visitors can engage in outdoor recreation and engage in education programs.

The British radio drama series The Archers featured rewilding areas in storylines in 2019 and 2020.

In the 1980s, the Dutch government began introducing analogue species in the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve, an area covering over 56 square kilometres (22 sq mi), in order to recreate a grassland ecology. This happened in line with Vera's proposal that grazing animals played a significant role in the shaping of European landscapes before the Neolithic - the wood-pasture hypothesis. Though not explicitly referred to as rewilding many of the goals and intentions of the project were in line with those of rewilding. The reserve is considered somewhat controversial due to the lack of predators and other native megafauna such as wolves, bears, lynx, elk, boar, and wisent. Konik ponies were reintroduced together with Heck cattle and red deer to keep the landscape open by natural grazing. This provided habitat for geese who are key species in the wetlands of the area. The grazing of geese made it possible for reedbeds to remain and therefore conserved many protected birds species. This is a prime example how water and land ecosystems are connected and how reintroducing keystone species can conserve other protected species. However, management of the Oostvaardersplassen is to be regarded as one that has to contend with conflicting ideas as to nature and remains a debated area.

• Climate change mitigation effects of rewilding
• Environmental restoration
• Feral, a 2013 book about rewilding
• Great Green Wall (Africa)
• Involuntary park
• Natural landscape
• Permaculture
• Sea rewilding
• Species reintroduction
• Urban prairie
• Urban reforestation
• Wildlife management

• Book on experimental methods to rewild forests with grazers and dead and decaying wood
• Foreman, Dave (2004). Rewilding North America: A Vision for Conservation in the 21st Century, Island Press. ISBN 978-1-55963-061-0
• Fraser, Caroline (2010). Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution, Picador. ISBN 978-0-312-65541-9
• Hawkins, Convery, Carver & Beyers, eds. (2023). Routledge Handbook of Rewilding, Routledge.
• Jepson and Blithe (2022). Rewilding: The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery (The Illustrated Edition), The MIT Press.
• MacKinnon, James Bernard (2013). The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-10305-4
• Monbiot, George (2013). Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life, Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-197558-0
• Monbiot, George (2022). Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-313596-8
• Julien Louys (2014). "Rewilding the tropics, and other conservation translocations strategies in the tropical Asia-Pacific region"
• Meredith Root-Bernstein (2017) "Rewilding South America: Ten key questions"
• Pereira, Henrique M., & Navarro, Laetitia (2015). Rewilding European Landscapes, Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-12038-6
• Pettorelli, Durant & du Troit, eds. (2019). Rewilding, Cambridge University Press.
• Tree, Isabella (2018), Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, Picador, ISBN 978-1-5098-0511-2
• Wilson, Edward Osborne (2017). Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life, Liveright (W.W. Norton). ISBN 978-1-63149-252-5
• Wright, Susan (2018). SCOTLAND: A Rewilding Journey, Wild Media Foundation. ISBN 978-0-9568423-3-6
• Thulin, Carl-Gustaf, & Röcklinsberg, Helena (2020). "Ethical Considerations for Wildlife Reintroductions and Rewilding". doi:10.3389/fvets.2020.00163

• on the wisentgrazing-project on the Kraansvlak"in Holland
• American Prairie Reserve
• Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica
• European Green Belt
• European Wildlife - European Centre of Biodiversity
• Gondwana Link
• Highlands Rewilding
• Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
• Peace Parks Foundation
• Pleistocene Park
• Rewilding Britain
• Rewilding Europe
• Rewilding Australia
• Rewilding Institute
• Self-willed land
• Scotland: The Big Picture
• Terai Arc Landscape Project (WWF)
• Wildland Network UK
• Wildlands Network N. America (formerly Wildlands project)

• Book on experimental methods to rewild forests with grazers and dead and decaying wood
• an docu-film about the reintroduction of wild horses 15 years after
• Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution
• "Rewilding the World: A Bright Spot for Biodiversity"
• Rewilding and Biodiversity: Complementary Goals for Continental Conservation, Michael Soulé & Reed Noss, Wild Earth, Wildlands Project Fall 1998
• Stolzenburg, William (2006). "Where the Wild Things Were". Conservation in Practice. 7 (1): 28–34. doi:10.1111/j.1526-4629.2006.tb00148.x. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
• "For more wonder, rewild the world", George Monbiot's July 2013 TED talk
• Bengal Tiger relocated to Sariska from Ranthambore | Times of India

A woonerf (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋoːnɛr(ə)f]) is a living street, as originally implemented in the Netherlands and in Flanders (Belgium). Techniques include shared space, traffic calming, and low speed limits.

The term woonerf has been adopted directly by some English-language publications. In the United Kingdom, these areas are called home zones.

The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country located in Northwestern Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium. The official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch, English, and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories.

Netherlands literally means "lower countries" in reference to its low elevation and flat topography, with 26% situated below sea level. Most of the areas below sea level, known as polders, are the result of land reclamation that began in the 14th century. In the Republican period, which began in 1588, the Netherlands entered a unique era of political, economic, and cultural greatness, ranked among the most powerful and influential in Europe and the world; this period is known as the Dutch Golden Age. During this time, its trading companies, the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, established colonies and trading posts all over the world.

With a population of over 17.9 million people, all living within a total area of 41,850 km² (16,160 sq mi)—of which the land area is 33,500 km² (12,900 sq mi)—the Netherlands is the 33rd most densely populated country, with a density of 535 people per square kilometre (1,390 people/sq mi). Nevertheless, it is the world's second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products by value, owing to its fertile soil, mild climate, intensive agriculture, and inventiveness. The four largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Amsterdam is the country's most populous city and the nominal capital, though the primary national political institutions are located in the Hague.

The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848. The country has a tradition of pillarisation (separation of citizens into groups by religion and political beliefs) and a long record of social tolerance, having legalised prostitution and euthanasia, along with maintaining a liberal drug policy. The Netherlands allowed women's suffrage in 1919 and was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001. Its mixed-market advanced economy has the eleventh-highest per capita income globally. The Hague holds the seat of the States General, Cabinet, and Supreme Court. The Port of Rotterdam is the busiest in Europe. Schiphol is the busiest airport in the Netherlands, and the fourth busiest in Europe. Being a developed country, the Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, Eurozone, G10, NATO, OECD, and WTO, as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. It hosts intergovernmental organisations and international courts, many of which are in The Hague.