Twelve months ago today, the European Young Rewilders was set up to empower young Europeans looking to become involved in rewilding. A year of growth has seen the network blossom into a well-connected community of passionate and skilled young Europeans, eager to drive the rewilding movement forwards and scale up nature recovery.
Launched at the conclusion of a high-level gathering in Vienna, the European Rewilding Coalition brings together Europe’s leading practical rewilding organisations. By working together, the coalition membership will accelerate landscape-scale rewilding across the continent.
“The Circle of Life in the Rhodope Mountains”, a 12-minute documentary by Emmanuel Rondeau, tells the hopeful story of rewilding in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria. At the beginning of November, a well-attended premiere in the town of Kardzhali helped the local rewilding team engage a wide range of stakeholders.
Healthy, free-flowing rivers governed by natural processes offer a wide range of benefits for wildlife and people. This autumn, the Oder Delta rewilding team and local partners carried out a range of measures to restore the Ina River – an important tributary of the Oder River.
Over 100 participants from Italy and beyond came together to discuss rewilding-related topics at a three-day seminar in the Central Apennines last week. The event helped the local rewilding team raise awareness of rewilding and its positive impacts, and to establish and strengthen relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.
Rewilding efforts are supporting wildlife comeback in the stunning Velebit Mountains of Croatia. With the abundance of iconic species such as brown bears increasing in the landscape, the local rewilding team are taking steps to ensure communities can live alongside wildlife and benefit economically from its recovery.
The recovery of wild nature in the Oder Delta is supporting a growing number of economic opportunities. The launch of the Wild Oder Network in September saw people from across the delta come together to discuss ways of collaborating and developing nature-based business together.
With Scottish wildcats now critically endangered, a grant from the European Wildlife Comeback Fund was used to support a pioneering release of captive-bred wildcats in the Cairngorms National Park this summer. This is hopefully the first step towards restoring a viable population of these charismatic and ecologically important animals in Scotland.
As part of the annual European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, the Rewilding Europe Award celebrates some of the best rewilding-related imagery from across Europe. This year’s award-winning photo, by German photographer Tobias Richter, showcases the recovery of European wildlife populations and how they are interacting in wilder landscapes.
Rewilding Europe is delighted to welcome Sylvie Goyet as the newest member of its Supervisory Board. We caught up with her to find out a little more about her background, her new role, and her passion for rewilding and nature.