Rewilding in the Central Apennines: a micro etnography on the human community impacted by wildlife conservation

Abstract

Rewilding is a relatively new practice of conservation that puts an emphasis on ‘letting nature take the lead’, promoting a variety of approaches to restore ecosystem functions by reintroducing key species and including local human stakeholders in the process. Rewilding theory, interlaced with other disciplines such as conservation biology and restoration ecology, is rapidly evolving and advances the need to deconstruct concepts as 'nature' and 'wilderness', to better understand what, how and why ought to be protected in contemporary times. Rewilding Europe, a NGO established in 2011, promotes this specific form of ecosystem restoration as a cost-effective solution both to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, and to revive local economies through wildlife tourism. In order to understand the dialogic interaction between the ambitious, international vision for "making Europe a wilder place" and the local fieldwork, I conducted a micro ethnography in Abruzzo during the month of March 2023, gathering qualitative data through participant observation and the conduction of semi-structured interviews with volunteers and employers of the Rewilding Apennines NGO, the Italian branch of Rewilding Europe. More interviews were conducted with local residents, hunters and shepherds, starting from the accounting of wildlife-human conflicts to explore the set of beliefs and emotional responses to the local fauna (with a particular attention to the most emblematic animal of the central Apennines, the Marsican Bear). I hope that this work, offering some insights on the social implications of wildlife conservation, can in small part contribute to the academic discourse about the passage of Rewilding from theory to practice.