The new German study is good news for bear conservation in Europe, but has implications for rewilding and the mitigation of human-wildlife conflict.

Following last summer’s success, this year’s fledging of 62 young vultures represents another milestone for the ongoing LIFE Vultures project and rewilding in Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains.

Monitoring of raptor species in the Faia Brava Nature Reserve and Côa Valley Special Protection Area (SPA) shows griffon vultures have made a dramatic return to the Western Iberia rewilding area since the 1990s. This bodes well for ongoing rewilding efforts here.

With only 40 percent of Europe’s waterways in good condition, a new study published today calls for tens of thousands of redundant dams and other barriers to be removed to help restore rivers and lakes – boosting wildlife populations and benefiting communities across the continent. A new initiative called Dam Removal Europe aims to start an era of dam removal.

By distributing electric fences, safeguarding livelihoods and establishing trust, the Rewilding Apennines team and local partner Salviamo l’Orso are showing how humans and bears can live side by side.

The journey of the juvenile bird offers hope that efforts to reestablish the black vulture as a breeding species in Bulgaria may ultimately be successful. It also highlights the importance of maintaining a well-connected network of vulture-friendly habitats.

Complementing river restoration work in its own operational areas, Rewilding Europe will collaborate with partner organisations in this new initiative to campaign for and support the removal of dams from European waterways. In this way we can scale up river rewilding across the continent.

Boosting rewilding activities through strengthened communications, the new site will showcase the rewilding activities of the Rewilding Rhodopes team to a regional and global audience.

Karakachan horse herds based in the Rhodope Mountains rewilding area are boosting local biodiversity through their free roaming grazing behaviour. Two new herd contracts begin their incorporation into the European Wildlife Bank.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands saw first hand a prime example of river rewilding during his visit today to Nijmegen, EU Green Capital 2018. The King was given a guided walk of the River Waal floodplain by Frans Schepers, Managing Director of Rewilding Europe, and Professor Hans de Kroon of the Institute for Water and Wetland Research at Nijmegen’s Radboud University, learning how river restoration has brought a wide range of benefits to the Gelderse Poort area.