The European Wildlife Comeback Fund supports wildlife comeback in Europe by enabling execution of reintroductions in a proactive and flexible way, following IUCN guidelines.
Bringing back wildlife
Supporting wildlife comeback is one of the core objectives of Rewilding Europe’s mission. In addition to creating the right conditions for wildlife comeback to happen naturally, Rewilding Europe takes active measures such as reintroductions of keystone species and population reinforcements.
Reintroductions are complicated processes that typically face many challenges and need a long preparation time. This often makes it difficult to match the timing of when funding is available with the timing of animals release into the wild. To overcome this challenge, Rewilding Europe aims to provide immediate funding for reintroductions and population reinforcements that are ready to be executed.
With the funding secured for the next 5 years, we are able to support 11 initiatives per year on average. To reach more ambitious goals, we target a total budget of 5 million euros for 2022–2026.
5M
So far the fund has a secured budget of 5 million euros over a 5-year period.
150
We aim to facilitate more than 150 wildlife comeback initiatives by 2030…
18
…with already 18 reintroductions funded in the first year…
15
…for 15 wildlife species across 11 different countries in Europe.
Send us your request for funding
We invite funding applications from organisations throughout Europe.
EWCF funding is flexible and, whenever possible, we encourage applicants to be ambitious in the number of individuals they release to guarantee long-term success of the initiative. Our long-term ambition is that reintroduced populations are ultimately viable and able to survive in the wild with no need for further reinforcement.
You are an organization actively reintroducing a keystone species in European landscapes
You have secured the source of the animals
You have the agreement of the landowner/manager to release the animals
You have completed all the legal requirements (especially permits and feasibility assessments)
If the above criteria apply to your initiative and your reintroduction or translocation is “ready to go”, then let us know!
We would love to speak with you.
Examples from EWCF funded releases
Support wildlife comeback
Solvin Zankl / Rewilding Europe
Become a financial partner in the European Wildlife Comeback Fund
The ongoing recovery of species presented in the recent Wildlife Comeback Report is encouraging and shows there is a possibility for wildlife to come back into our landscapes if we act on it. Yet this only represents the start of what is possible, and also what is needed. With your investment, we can welcome wildlife back into our landscapes across Europe.
You can support wildlife comeback with an online donation. However, if you want to invest in the European Wildlife Comeback Fund with more than 50.000 euros, we would love to get in touch with you personally.
Daniel Mirlea
Why support wildlife comeback
The unprecedented rate at which biodiversity is currently declining makes the urgent prioritisation of supporting wildlife comeback all the more critical. The good news is that quite a number of wildlife species have shown signs of recovery across Europe over the last four decades, proving that wild nature is resilient and can recover if conditions are suitable. Wildlife can return if we give it space and take measures to live alongside each other. The recovery of wildlife populations is something we need to embrace and learn from. Accelerating and widening wildlife comeback in Europe can improve the health and functionality of entire ecosystems, delivering a huge array of benefits, for nature, climate and people.
Made possible by:
Karl and Astrid Schefer, the founders of Delinat and pioneers in organic wine growing
“This is not only for the future and for our children. The European Wildlife Comeback Fund is an incredible opportunity for all those that wish to see and experience the return of wildlife to our landscapes, now!”
Sophie Monsarrat
Rewilding Manager