Friday essay: can rewilding offer us a brighter, greener future?

Bharatmorningnews.com – “`html

Can Rewilding Restore Our Planet’s Natural Wonders?

Over the last thirty years, I have had the privilege of exploring Tasmania’s magnificent kelp forests, plunging into their cold depths. As I navigate through these underwater gardens, sunlight streams through golden, ribbon-shaped leaves, illuminating schools of fish that glide past like tropical birds. Below, shimmering abalone shells rest on the ocean floor while bright orange crayfish move about with curious eyes.

The Great Southern Reef: A Hidden Treasure

This extraordinary ecosystem forms the backbone of the Great Southern Reef, stretching approximately 8,000 kilometers along Australia’s southern coastline. The reef spans from Kalbarri in Western Australia all the way to Coolangatta in Queensland. Within this vast habitat, certain marine groups—including seaweeds, sponges, crustaceans, chordates, bryozoans, echinoderms, and molluscs—harbor between 30 and 80 percent of species found exclusively in this region. Consider the weedy sea dragon, whose delicate fins resemble leaves.

While perhaps less celebrated than the Great Barrier Reef, this area remains equally significant as a biodiversity hotspot. Many commercially valuable creatures, including rock lobsters and abalone, depend upon these thriving reefs for both protection and nourishment.

Giant Kelp: A Marvel of Marine Growth

Giant kelp dominates the southeastern portion of the Great Southern Reef and has long attracted visitors seeking underwater adventure. Exploring these forests feels somewhat like stepping into the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk—a comparison that hardly seems excessive when considering how rapidly this plant grows. Under perfect conditions, giant kelp can extend fifty centimeters daily, eventually reaching heights exceeding thirty meters above the seabed.

Historically, the plant grew so vigorously that it frequently tangled around boat propellers, making anchoring difficult throughout Tasmania. However, over recent decades, populations along the eastern coastline have plummeted by ninety-five percent. Scientists attribute this dramatic reduction to two primary factors: increasingly warm waters with fewer nutrients spreading further down the Australian coast, and the introduction of the long-spined sea urchin. This invasive creature feeds heavily on kelp and other seaweeds, creating barren zones across the ocean floor.

Restoration Efforts Gain Momentum

In 2012, southeast Australia’s giant kelp marine forests achieved a historic milestone as the first marine community recognized as endangered under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

My husband, Craig Johnson, a marine biologist, stood among the earliest researchers to record this decline. Through his position at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Science, he began exploring solutions such as cultivating heat-resistant kelp varieties and releasing them back into natural habitats.

Today, numerous research teams pursue similar objectives, energized by the prospect of reviving Tasmania’s legendary underwater forests. Early trials demonstrate that kelp forests can recover within a single year.

Nature possesses remarkable resilience when provided opportunities to heal. The ultimate goal involves successfully breeding warm-tolerant strains on a larger scale and allowing these forests to naturally propagate. Should we manage to control invasive urchin populations, barren areas could once again transform into vibrant temperate reefs.

Rewilding Captivates the World

During this period marked by ecological sorrow, rewilding initiatives have gained considerable attention, even drawing royal interest. In March 2026, Denmark’s Queen Mary and King Frederik traveled to Tasmania, joining scientists on an excursion to observe remaining giant kelp stands located south of Hobart within the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. During their visit, they listened to Scott Ling from the institute discuss ongoing reseeding programs.

This progress prompts an important question: might we envision a more hopeful tomorrow? From efforts to restore Tasmania’s kelp forests to the remarkable return of white storks to the United Kingdom—where they now breed after six centuries of absence—the evidence suggests optimism is warranted.

Across numerous global locations, strategies aimed at rescuing species from extinction continue yielding positive results. Certain initiatives, like the kelp restoration project, focus on identifying and cultivating naturally resilient varieties capable of flourishing amid changing environmental conditions. Other programs simply reintroduce species that once dominated their ecosystems, such as wolves returning to northern European forests.

Endangered eastern quolls represent another success story. Twenty-four individuals were released in 2025 onto the Quoin, a highland property in Tasmania, and recent confirmation of pouch young indicates the initiative is advancing successfully. This effort stems from Lisa Miller’s broader vision; a trained zoologist, she founded Wedgetail, a private enterprise dedicated to rehabilitating ecologically significant regions worldwide.

I have encountered a quoll merely once, during a visit to our property south of Hobart. That fleeting moment revealed a sleek, spotted creature darting through the bush with such speed that I still wonder if I truly witnessed it.

“`