This week’s book is Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution by Caroline Fraser.

Book Summary: Rewilding the World is an inspiring report from the front lines of the visionary conservation strategy known as rewilding, developed to protect species against the impending wave of human-caused extinctions. The concept of rewilding emerged following the realization that parks and protected zones are actually too fragmented and too small to offer a long-term solution to save species from extinction.

At the heart of rewilding are the “three C’s”: Cores, Corridors, and Carnivores.

Core protected areas enlarge habitat; corridors connect protected wilderness in order to allow migration and other forms of movement to prevent genetic bottlenecks; and carnivores – large predators or “keystone” species – regulate the ecosystem, ensuring stable relationships throughout the food chain.

Why this book is important: Rewilding the World is a call to action – with a blueprint. In great detail, the author covers the successes – and failures – of this visionary approach to conservation. The successes inspire us to leap into the revolution now – to start making a difference. The failures are also key: Mistakes serve as critical learning experiences and cautionary tales. One of the central themes is action. The leaders of the “rewilding revolution” are not choked by the bureaucracy, paperwork, and political bottlenecks that clog “business as usual” conservation methods (which, tragically, no longer seem to be working). Time and again, it is the unprecedented vision of small teams that has led to extraordinary accomplishments, such as Lewa’s Craig family and Area de Conservación Guanacaste ACG’s Dan Janzen. Rewilding the World compels us to answer the call – and join the revolution!

Quotable moment:

The biodiversity crisis, which presents us with dangers as profound and costly as climate change does, demands the creation of an equal and corresponding political will to act. The environment is the economy. No problem – not proverty, not climate changes, not the economic downturn – can be addressed without simultaneously restoring the systems that are life itself.

We must look to what is left of our planet. In rewilding, we have dreamed up the ways and means to keep it alive. Now, we must only connect.

Also notable is Dan Janzen’s decision to raise money for ACG without the help of NGOs:

“These NGOs were largely surviving on the fund-raising message of ‘help us save the tropical rain forest now before it is cut, because once cut, it is gone forever.’ We were told that the donor public was not sufficiently sophisticated to be able to handle both a conservation and a restoration message.”

Undeterred, Janzen set out to publicize his work and raise money without the aid of NGOs, presenting his elaborate, colorful stories about tropical species and their complex interactions. Later he would say, “I was told that it’s too complicated and a lot of people won’t understand it. Bullshit. They can understand it perfectly well.”

Where to purchase ‘Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution’

You can purchase Rewilding the World: Dispatches from the Conservation Revolution online at Amazon.com.

Learn more about ‘Rewilding the World’

To learn more:

• Rewilding the World website: rewildingtheworld.com
• Caroline Fraser’s website: carolinefraser.net

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

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See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

This week’s book is “Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink” by Dr. Jane Goodall.

Book Summary: Hope for Animals and Their World is really a call to action disguised as a book! A call to action in the form of an incredible collection of inspiring success stories – shining examples of dedicated people working tirelessly to help bring endangered species back from the very edge of extinction. Just a few of the imperiled species profiled in the book include the California condor, Prsewalski’s horse, Iberian lynx, golden lion tamarin, and the Sumatran rhino.

Why this book is important: Hope for Animals and Their World could not have come at a more critical moment. Time is running out for an unprecedented number of species, creatures that have no voice to speak up against the barrage of deadly threats we humans have set upon them. Thankfully, Dr. Goodall once again offers encouragement to each and every one of us: It’s not too late for us to take action – we can make a difference in this world.

Quotable moment:

It is this – this link between the human being and the other animals with whom we share Planet Earth, this connection we can establish with another life-form – that for many makes it possible to carry on. To carry on with work that can be so hard, carry on despite the frustrations and setbacks, and sometimes the outright hostility or ridicule of those who believe that to save any species from extinction is sentimental and a waste of money and resources

But they cannot do it alone, these Keepers of the Planet. To save Planet Earth, each of us who cares must become involved in protecting and restoring the wild places and the animals and plants that live there.

Where to purchase ‘Hope for Animals and Their World’

You can purchase Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink online at Amazon.com.

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.