2023-10-19 17:50:37
Will we ultimately reintroduce the European bison into Wallonia? How can we best cohabit with the wolf, who has been back in Belgium for several years? Can the boreal lynx, an individual of which has been spotted in the south of the country, expand into Wallonia? So many questions were addressed on Thursday in Namur, during a “BeWild” conference organized by WWF Belgium on the sidelines of the Namur International Nature Festival. A few months before a year 2024 rich in elections, the environmental NGO wants to put the question of the rewilding of Wallonia at the top of the political agenda.
“Rewilding” consists of aiming to restore the complexity of ecosystems, which we know are highly degraded in our long-standing and densely populated industrialized regions. This rewilding can involve a multitude of actions or non-actions (for example, leave some dead wood in the forest), be done actively, as when we reintroduced (illegally at the time) the beaver into our regions, or passively, as was the case with the natural return of the wolf from neighboring countries.
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In recent years, several emblematic and/or so-called “keystone” species have reappeared in Wallonia, whether the beaver, the otter, the wolf or the lynx. However, this should not mask a sad environmental reality. “Of the 45 natural habitats in our region, only one is in a favorable state of conservation: underground cavities,” recalled Corentin Rousseau, from WWF Belgium. “And the bird population in Belgium has fallen by 40% since 1990,” he further illustrated.
While Wallonia now has two national parks (Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse and Vallée de la Semois), several rewilding avenues were mentioned on Thursday in Namur, such as a reintroduction of the European bison, once present. “According to preliminary studies, four to six sites in Wallonia would be compatible with the presence of bison and might accommodate 10 to 30 individuals per site. These figures should not be taken at face value but it shows that it is not impossible. There is room to talk regarding a bison in complete freedom in Wallonia,” explains Sébastien Lezaca-Rojas, of the non-profit organization “Forêt et Naturalité”.
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Ecolo, PTB and PS spoke out in favor
Of course, a hypothetical reintroduction of the bison here would not be without challenges, given the density of the Belgian road network and the insufficient connectivity between the Walloon and European forest areas. Generally speaking, “we would have to relearn how to live with the bison.”
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As for the reintroduction of certain animal species in Wallonia, Ecolo, PTB and PS spoke in favor, Les Engagés and the MR being more circumspect. “In principle, I am in favor of it, but we must pay attention to coexistence with man and with certain activities, particularly agricultural activities,” explained Georges-Louis Bouchez in substance.
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