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The news that Derby has approved what promises to be Britain’s largest urban rewilding project so far is very welcome. The 320-hectare Allestree Park will, subject to detailed consultation, be given over to a range of habitats and perhaps even see the reintroduction of species such as dormice and red kites.

Urban rewilding - which is not the same as urban green space, however extensive - can take many forms. They _________ from aiming to slow down the rate of species loss by _________ swift (雨燕) and sparrow boxes to new apartment constructions (there are now 247m fewer house sparrows than there were in 1980) to designating areas the size of Allestree Park.

But in fact, some of the most successful projects have been _________. Canvey Wick, a disused area of the Thames estuary, returned to a “self-wilded rainforest” that is now home to nearly 2,000 invertebrate (无脊椎的) species, including at least three _________ thought to be extinct. Rivers _________ natural wildlife corridors, working their way through cities, then linking them to countryside. The Guardian columnist George Monbiot gives the example of the River Wandle, which in the 19th century supported up to 90 factories, and was described as “the hardest worked river for its size in the world.” Now it teems with (充满着) wildlife, and the local authorities have considered _________ beavers (海狸).

Urban rewilding, _________, won’t make a massive difference to global heating, with only 6% or so of Britain is actually built on it. But giving nature freer rein (控制) in parts of towns and cities could help to mitigate (缓解) flooding, and to slow species loss. Importantly, about 83% of us live on the portion of the UK’s land that is classed as urbanised, and access to nature has also been shown to improve psychological well-being. One recent Canadian study found that adding just 10 trees to a city block had a big effect on people’s _________ of their health; research is beginning to find that increasing biodiversity can heighten that impact. And on a more general scale, those who _________ wildness are more likely to fight for it.

The pressure for development means that there will always be tension with __________ interests: the Swans-combe Peninsula in Kent, another self-wilded area that is home to 1,992 species of invertebrates, including 250 of conservation concern, is now __________ for the London Resort, including a theme park expected to destroy 76 hectares of priority habitat which forms a vital part of the ecological network. This loss would be __________ losing 140 football pitches (球场) __________ of nationally important habitat.

In these mid-pandemic, post-Brexit, austerity-bitten (财政紧缩的) times, the financial arguments can be hardest to __________ for councils short of cash, but the evidence that “we need nature as much as it needs us”, in the words of Jo Smith of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, is surely __________. With a bit of imagination, flexibility and commitment, many more urban areas could follow Derby’s example.