On March 20, people across the planet will celebrate the first-ever #WorldRewildingDay, raising awareness of rewilding and our need for it. Join us on this special day and help us to spread the message that the time to heal nature is now. Are you #ReadyToRewild?
A worldwide statement
This is a critical year for nature recovery. Against the backdrop of rising global temperatures, biodiversity decline and the impact of Covid-19, there has never been a greater awareness of our need for nature and the wide range of benefits it provides – from clean air and fertile soil to the locking up of atmospheric carbon, resilience to disease and climate change mitigation.
We need to do more than simply protect the nature we have left. We need to restore nature by rewilding large areas, across the world, ranging from ancient forests to coastal mangroves, from peatlands to coral reefs. Nature is our best ally, and the time for rewilding is now.
To raise awareness about the need for nature recovery on a global level, rewilding initiatives from six continents will join forces on the first-ever World Rewilding Day – March 20. Together we will make a statement that we need to restore and rewild nature across the globe.
Global Rewilding Alliance
World Rewilding Day has been launched by the Global Rewilding Alliance, which now boasts more than 115 supporting organisations from across world – these are engaged in a wide range of rewilding actions. Rewilding Europe is a proud partner of this initiative, representing many of our partners across the beautiful continent where we operate.
World Rewilding Day was born out of the planning that took place for the 11th World Wilderness Congress and the Global Rewilding Charter. Recognising the vast promise and potential encompassed in simple actions that allow nature to heal itself, scientists and conservation leaders started to coalesce around the idea that rewilding can empower millions of people around the world to take actions that restore nature and help combat climate change.
“World Rewilding Day is very meaningful for us,” says Frans Schepers, Managing Director of Rewilding Europe. “Just as we have given local rewilding initiatives a European perspective, now World Rewilding Day places our European efforts in a global context. Europe can be a shining example of how abundant wild nature and wildlife can become part of our modern world, helping to resolve the challenges we face on climate, biodiversity, rural economy and human wellbeing.”
Growing movement
With ecologists identifying the need for rewilding to restore biodiversity 30 years ago, the idea of rewilding has now started to move into mainstream conservation. Very few people were talking about rewilding in Europe a decade ago – today an ever-growing number of people are promoting it, with high-profile advocates including Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg.
Rewilding Europe has been pioneering rewilding for nearly 10 years now, having launched our vision to make Europe a wilder place back in 2011. We are now rewilding at landscape level with local partner organisations to put our vision in practice and develop innovative models and ideas to realise rewilding at scale.
We always follow and promote a set of well-defined rewilding principles, which act as a framework for positive action and which Rewilding Europe helped to co-formulate at the end of 2019.
More than #ReadyToRewild
We will celebrate the first-ever World Rewilding Day by showing that we can make our vision of wild nature a reality by celebrating rewilding successes across Europe.
From the very beginning, it has been Rewilding Europe’s mission to practice it in the field, rather than simply talk about it. Together with our local partners we are working in eight large pioneering areas in Europe to make our vision a reality, providing inspiration for hundreds of other rewilding initiatives across the continent.
From the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria to the Oder Delta in Germany and Poland. From the Central Apennines in Italy to the Greater Côa Valley in Portugal, and from the Danube Delta in Ukraine to the Velebit Mountains in Croatia.
In all of these landscapes, we are helping to bring back wilder nature and wildlife, and to support the development of local nature-based economies. We do this using a bottom-up approach, working together with local people, communities, entrepreneurs and authorities.
In addition to our core rewilding areas, many great and inspirational rewilding initiatives have developed over the last few decades, with new projects continuing to mushroom across the continent.
With our European Rewilding Network (ERN) we aim to bring these initiatives closer together, empowering each network member with information and tools and support them to adopt the best rewilding practices and methodologies.
How can you support rewilding?
Everyone – from individual citizens to big businesses – can play a role and become part of the burgeoning rewilding movement. Our generation has the opportunity to be the first in human history to upgrade rather than downgrade European nature, both in terms of quality and quantity.
GET INVOLVED
- Join us in celebrating the first #WorldRewildingDay and show that you are #ReadyToRewild
- Adopt and share our Rewilding Principles
- Are you an entrepreneur, conservation or business initiatives sharing Rewilding Europe’s principles? Join our European Rewilding Network.
- Visit a rewilding area and support local nature-based businesses. The European Safari Company offers a range of unique, rewilding-related experiences across Europe.
- Join the Young Rewilders Community.
- To donate or choose rewilding as the beneficiary of your organisation’s fundraising activities, please contact info@rewildingeurope.com.
- Learn more by subscribing to Rewilding Europe’s newsletter
- Connect with us online on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube to help spread the word about #rewilding.
We are more than #ReadytoRewild. Let’s rewild together!