Natural Processes in the Netherlands and beyond (pdf)

There is a great hunger for practical knowledge about rewilding. Not only in the Netherlands, but also abroad. Landowners who want to manage their land differently, young people, policy makers, journalists and employees of partner organisations: more and more people realise that we must do everything we can to restore nature on a landscape scale, that we would do better to work with nature rather than against it, that nature shows an enormous resilience when allowed to take its course, and that it is vitally important for nature to be able to adapt to the rapid changes in the biosphere. 

There was no book yet that specifically addressed the natural processes in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries important for rewilding practice. That is why Leo Linnartz wrote this book. For anyone who wants to know more about the levers you can pull, inside and outside the Netherlands, to help nature restore itself to rich, self-regulating ecosystems. Leo Linnartz (1961) was born and raised in South Limburg, the hilly southernmost part of the Netherlands. He drew his inspiration for rewilding and nature restoration from southern Africa. Unlike in Europe, new nature reserves there immediately reintroduce as many species of large herbivores as possible, and preferably also large predators. Nature management is left to wild animals, wind, fire and water. His curiosity about natural processes was born, and during his many travels at home and abroad, he continued to seek knowledge of landscapes, biodiversity, and the underlying processes. For the past 27 years, he has worked on large and small rewilding projects in the Netherlands with his colleagues at ARK Rewilding Nederland. As programme leader for Knowledge Exchange, he brings practical and theoretical knowledge together as much as possible and works to make it accessible to people who want to put rewilding into practice.