Episode 163: Steve Carver on the Challenges of Implementing Rewilding Goals Across Fragmented Geographic, Cultural, and Political Landscapes
December 12, 2025
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Dr. Steve Carver, School of Geography, University of Leeds
Dr. Steve Carver is Professor of Rewilding and Wilderness Science in the School of Geography, University of Leeds and Director of the Wildland Research Institute. He has over 30 years of experience in GIS and multi-criteria evaluation, with special interests in wilderness, wildlands, rewilding, landscape evaluation, and public participation. He has worked extensively on the development of methodologies for wildland mapping and assessment. He has tested and applied these across a variety of locations and spatial scales, including Scotland, England, Britain, Europe, North America, and Asia.
Show Notes
Dr. Carver joins the podcast to discuss the creation of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) global “Guidelines for Rewilding,” highlighting the challenges of defining and implementing rewilding across diverse regions and cultures. The conversation covers the importance of large-scale, nature-led restoration, the need for context-specific approaches, and the role of both big and small projects in enhancing biodiversity. Steve and Jack also address political and cultural barriers, the significance of connectivity in landscapes, and the optimism driving the rewilding movement despite ongoing challenges.
Topics
- Defining rewilding and establishing global guidelines
- The importance of scale and context in restoration
- Political, cultural, and practical challenges
- The role of connectivity and small-scale efforts
- Hope and optimism in the future of rewilding
Maps: The final Wilderness Quality Index for the EU Wilderness Register and the top wildest cells. Maps courtesy Dr. Steve Carver.
Extra Credit
- Check out Steve’s work at Wildland Research Institute
- Read: IUCN’s “Guidelines for Rewilding”
Director of Digital Outreach (D.O.D.O.) for The Rewilding Institute
Host and Producer of the Rewilding Earth Podcast
Jack started Rewilding work as Executive Director of Sky Island Alliance in the mid-1990’s, organizing the Sky Island Wildlands Network design, ripping up illegal roads on forest service lands, installing wolf acclimatization pens on Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch & conducting howling surveys to help make way for the final stage of the Lobo reintroduction program in the Southwest.
Through the years, Jack has worked with Dave Foreman and the Rewilding Gang to further Rewilding initiatives and education.