Rewilding

A practical framework for connecting risk data to reliable evidence, stronger risk assessments, and better-informed business decisions.

Rewilding aims to restore natural processes, support biodiversity and help ecosystems recover and thrive. Understanding whether these efforts are working requires reliable evidence about wildlife, habitats, ecological interactions and changes over time.

The eOceans® Rewilding Framework helps conservation organizations, land managers, researchers, governments and restoration teams collect, manage, analyze and report evidence to guide rewilding projects, track ecological recovery and inform adaptive management.

Six Pillars of Rewilding

1. Ecological Baselines and Biodiversity

Establish a clear picture of existing ecological conditions before and during rewilding.

• Species presence, absence and distribution

• Frequency of occurrence and relative abundance

• Biodiversity and community composition

• Wildlife behaviour, size and age classes

• Habitat use and species interactions

• Seasonal and long-term ecological patterns

2. Habitat Restoration and Natural Processes

Monitor changes in habitats and the ecological processes that support ecosystem recovery.

• Habitat condition and distribution

• Native vegetation and habitat recovery

• Natural regeneration and ecosystem succession

• Connectivity among habitats

• Water quality and other relevant environmental conditions

• Recovery of ecological processes and functions

3. Wildlife Recovery and Ecological Interactions

Track how wildlife responds to restoration and how species interact as ecosystems recover.

• Changes in wildlife occurrence and distribution

• Population and community composition

• Predator–prey and other ecological interactions

• Return of locally absent species, where relevant

• Invasive species and emerging pressures

• Wildlife health, injury and mortality patterns

4. Threat Reduction and Ecosystem Resilience

Identify pressures that limit recovery and monitor whether management actions reduce them.

• Habitat degradation and fragmentation

• Pollution and development pressures

• Human–wildlife conflict

• Invasive species impacts

• Disturbance and other observed threats

• Changes in ecosystem condition and recovery indicators

5. Restoration Outcomes and Adaptive Management

Evaluate progress toward rewilding objectives and use evidence to guide management as conditions change.

• Progress against ecological recovery targets

• Changes from baseline conditions

• Wildlife and habitat response to interventions

• Natural regeneration and biodiversity trends

• Evidence of recovery across sites and time periods

• Identification of monitoring gaps and emerging priorities

6. Collaboration, Reporting and Long-Term Stewardship

Coordinate monitoring and communicate results across the people and organizations involved in rewilding.

• Consistent monitoring methods and data standards

• Data validation, quality review and documentation

• Shared monitoring across sites and projects

• Maps, analyses and progress reports

• Collaboration among researchers, landowners, Indigenous communities, conservation organizations and governments

• Long-term tracking of ecological outcomes

How eOceans Powers Rewilding

eOceans connects the evidence workflow, from baseline surveys and field observations to analysis and reporting.

• Set up the project. Define restoration areas, target species, monitoring sites, methods, variables and recovery objectives.

• Collect and connect data. Bring together field observations, photos, notes and existing datasets from monitoring teams and partners.

• Check data quality. Use validation, error detection, review and documented workflows to support consistent, traceable evidence.

• Analyze and map recovery. Generate maps, summaries and analyses to examine species distribution, occurrence, relative abundance, ecological interactions and changes over time.

• Evaluate progress. Compare results against baseline conditions and project objectives using indicators suited to the ecosystem and restoration approach.

• Keep evidence current. Add new observations and update analyses and reports as the ecosystem changes and the project evolves.

Where the Framework Can Be Applied

The framework can be adapted to rewilding projects across different ecosystems, including:

• Forest and woodland restoration

• Grassland and wetland recovery

• River and freshwater ecosystem restoration

• Coastal and marine rewilding

• Wildlife recovery and species reintroductions

• Habitat connectivity and landscape restoration

• Removal or management of invasive species

• Restoration of natural ecological processes

• Community-led and large-scale conservation initiatives

• Long-term ecological monitoring

Measure What Matters

Indicators should reflect the ecosystem, restoration goals, baseline conditions and expected recovery processes. They may include species occurrence and distribution, relative abundance, biodiversity, habitat condition, native species recovery, ecological interactions, threat reduction and changes in ecosystem indicators over time.

Recovery takes time, and more observations do not automatically mean an ecosystem is recovering. Reliable assessment requires appropriate monitoring design, consistent sampling effort and interpretation that accounts for natural variability, external pressures and uncertainty. Some outcomes require specialized ecological assessments or independent verification.

From Restoration Activity to Evidence of Recovery

Rewilding is about more than completing restoration activities. It is about understanding how ecosystems respond and whether they are moving toward the intended ecological outcomes.

eOceans helps rewilding teams organize their evidence, track change and generate repeatable results to support learning, accountability and better-informed management decisions.

Track recovery. Understand change. Help nature thrive.

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