Scientists have found that humans can increase biodiversity, providing lessons for the rewilding movement, conservation and regenerative farming alike.

Farming became an alternative to full time hunter-gathering around 4,000 years ago during the Neolithic period. Known today as early farmers, these Stone Age crofters swept aside their traditional basic lifestyle in favour of permanent settlements and a reliable food source. By 3,500 BC, many parts of Britain were converted into farmland, and settlements and civilisations grew because crops and animals could now be farmed to meet demand.

After the last Ice Age, the climate warmed, leading to wetter conditions and the expansion of forests across newly thawed areas, especially in the northern hemisphere. In these early-Holocene forests, significant connection can be observed between the growing human presence and the rise in plant diversity in once forested landscapes, according to researchers at the University of York.

The first movement occurred around 9,000 years ago, when Neolithic farming populations began migrating north and west from the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East into Europe. It is believed that these newcomers in Europe cleared some, though not all, of the forests to accommodate livestock, crops, and their homesteads.

Genetic diversity

As a result, grasses and other plants that thrive in disturbed areas would have taken root, leaving a diverse landscape with various patches of vegetation. Creating a patchy forest is more feasible than establishing a patchy open grassland, as it's simpler to fell trees and allow open-ground plants to occupy the gaps. This ease of creating patchiness in forests would create a mosaic of interacting habitats and increase biodiversity in a landscape.

Biodiversity is what makes every environment on Earth unique and has played a crucial role in agriculture since its inception.

Early farmers harnessed genetic diversity by domesticating edible plants and animals. Biodiversity continues to form a critical part of agriculture. Regenerative practices are bringing back into focus the power of agriculture working with nature to enhance soil health, livestock systems, recue inputs and reap local and landscape benefits.

Eco baseline

Many people today promote the idea of enhancing biodiversity by reducing human impact on landscapes. This often takes the form of rewilding, a movement that seeks to "let nature take charge”. However, findings indicate that in many areas – though not all – minimally human-modified landscapes exhibited fewer plant types, with stable stage climax vegetation such as forest proliferating.

This is seen by some as the perfect ecological baseline, a state which is highly desirable and should be sought at all costs. In recent cases, we have seen this pushing the removal of humans and reducing land management.

Using pollen analysis, York University researchers found that formerly wooded environments achieved increased biodiversity when early farmers arrived and began manipulating the landscape. In many cases, human disturbances actually increased rather than diminished biodiversity. Today, rewilding, regenerative farming and forestry are often seen as competing land uses.

Regen methods are key

A rewilding ethos is often said to be ideal for nature, but this research shows that in Britain, human intervention is a critical element of biodiversity. We are after all not removed from nature and the landscapes in which we live. The benefits of including multiple land uses in a landscape are clear and considering biodiversity on a landscape scale can bring additional benefits to the rewilding approach.

Under regenerative farming and forestry, different habitats are created to suit the needs of humans through provisioning, and it is satisfying to know that these landscapes create habitats which benefit overall biodiversity. This demonstrates the importance of provisioning activities, working with nature to increase biodiversity, and that if undertaken in a careful and considerate manner, these approaches can provide resources for society as well as benefiting nature.

At Galbraith, we have been working with a number of projects where multiple landowners are involved in nature restoration at landscape scale and with single landowners looking to create mosaics and increase biodiversity in their own ownership.

  • Natural Capital: Galbraith’s expert advisers guide our clients in realising value in all land uses – by assessing and measuring natural assets, furthering opportunities in biodiversity net gain, and ensuring stakeholders are rewarded fully for their investment in and contribution to delivering ecosystem services and net-zero outcomes.