Today rewilding organisations from 15 different European countries are calling for a wilder Europe and the inclusion of rewilding in the European Green Deal and EU Biodiversity Strategy post-2020. This has the potential to significantly mitigate climate change and reverse biodiversity decline.
The surveying work will bring a greater understanding of the distribution and abundance of roe deer populations in Portugal’s Greater Côa Valley (part of the Western Iberia rewilding area). This is the first step in increasing the availability of natural prey for Iberian wolves.
Growing rapidly since it was founded in 2013, the European Rewilding Network has played an important role in the development of Europe’s rewilding movement. Updated admission criteria for members will shift the focus from network expansion to support for practical, result-oriented rewilding.
Financed by crowdfunding, the removal of 10 obsolete dams on the Kogilnik and Sarata Rivers will help to restore wild nature and should provide economic benefit to local communities.
Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania have been reintroducing bison in the Southern Carpathians of Romania since 2014. Shot by French filmmaker Emmanuel Rondeau, “Zimbrul” is an intimate snapshot of people’s feelings about the return of this iconic species.
Continuing a longstanding reintroduction programme, the latest recent translocation of 91 fallow deer in the Rhodope Mountains rewilding area in Bulgaria will help to create biodiversity-rich mosaic landscapes and enhance local food chains.
Coordinated by Rewilding Europe, the “Pelican Way of LIFE” project formally kicked off in Bucharest on November 20. Its pan-European, multi-partner efforts will hopefully boost populations of this important and iconic bird.
The LIFE Lynx project, which works to conserve and enhance the endangered Dinaric-SE Alpine lynx population, has just joined the European Rewilding Network. In taking network membership to 70, this highlights the continued growth of Europe’s rewilding movement.
European bison are now roaming free in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria for the first time since the Middle Ages. This will help to boost local biodiversity and underpin the development of nature-based tourism.
Wildlife enthusiasts can now contribute to rewilding efforts wherever they are. ZSL’s (Zoological Society of London) groundbreaking ‘Instant Wild’ platform allows everyone to collectively identify animals in camera trap photos. A research partnership with Rewilding Europe has already seen a wide range of species tagged in imagery from the Central Apennines rewilding area.