“Making Europe a Wilder Place”, the full-day Rewilding Europe Seminar on October 9 is one of the main highlights of WILD10, the 10th World Wilderness Congress in Salamanca, Spain, in October 2013.
We invite you to Salamanca, enjoy the exciting presentations, meet the inspiring wildlife and wilderness enthusiasts from all over the world and take part in the lively discussions. WILD10 will be a milestone in the history of nature conservation in Europe. It is really a must for anyone interested in the wild! There are both plenary presentations and a specific Rewilding Europe Seminar.
Plenary sessions
Rewilding Europe will be well represented and have number of presentations both in the Global Gathering from 4-6 October, as in the science stream (download the program here) at the Global Forum from 8-10 October.
A general introduction about Rewilding Europe will be given at the Global Gathering on October 4th. On the same day, the most important findings of the wildlife comeback study by the Zoological Society of London and BirdLife International, commissioned by Rewilding Europe, will be presented. On 6 October, Rewilding Europe will present some of the new rewilding areas that are in the process of becoming part of our portfolio (the Rewilding 10); also a presentation will be done on the enterprise work we have been working on. See the draft programme for the Global Gathering on the WILD10 website.
Rewilding Europe Seminar (download the program here)
We strongly recommend you to participate in the Rewilding Europe Seminar on October 9, moderated by Chris Sandom. Here, we will present our visions, plans, actions and also demonstrate real showcases and concrete examples of our rewilding work. We will discuss many new facts about rewilding, wildlife as well as about the business case for the wild.
It will be a day full with selected exciting themes and specially invited top-level speakers, divided into four different, but strongly connected sections.
The firts section will focus on ‘Wilder Landscapes and Ecosystems’. Here, we will address rewilding forests and forestry, the match between rewilding and Natura 2000 and rewilding European landscapes as a land-use option will be discussed.
The second section will be on the ‘Resurrection of three European Wildlife Icons’. This will cover three of Europe’s ecologically most important and influential wildlife species – the bison, the aurochs and the wild horse. The European Bison Rewilding Action Plan will be presented in detail for the first time, followed by speeches and discussions on aurochs, the Tauros Programme and presentation of our new book about this subject. The third talk will be on Eurasian wild horses; addressing the question which horse breeds are the most original according to the most recent scientific knowledge.
The third section will look into ‘Rewilding in Practice’. This section will focus on concrete rewilding actions on the ground (how to move up on the wildness scale), the start of the European Rewilding Network and a presentation on the role we see for hunters and hunting with respect to increasing wildlife numbers.
The fourth and final section will address ‘The Wild Business Case’. Rewilding also means business opportunities, benefits and new economic prospects for the local communities. This topic will be exposed and discussed through several presentations, looking into the meaning of rewilding enterprises, the economic potential of wildlife watching in Europe, how to build community conservancies and how to engage investors in rewilding.
All in all, we believe this will become a very interesting seminar.
And this is still not all…!
There will be a number of launches during WILD10 as well. The new European Wildlife Bank will be presented for the first time. The likewise new European Rewilding Network, connecting dozens of rewilding initiatives across Europe, will be officially launched and opened for joining. The brand new book ‘The Aurochs, Born to be Wild’ will also be launched.
Please also don’t miss to see the stunning documentary film ‘The Wolf Mountains’ about the Eastern Carpathians rewilding area, which will be shown during one of the evenings.
Participants and guests of WILD 10 can meet the Rewilding Europe crew here at any time and get books and info materials from the initiative in the stands 17/18 in Zone A, that we have jointly together with Taurus Foundation and Wild Wonders of Europe.
Are you still not a member of Rewilding Europe Travel Club? Join it and you may win a fantastic nature holiday in Europe. The third draw of the Rewilding Europe Travel Club is planned in Salamanca at the end of Rewilding Europe Seminar on October 9. Don’t forget to take part!
Treat yourself to one of the truly inspirational moments of your life – come to WILD10, and once there, take the opportunity to meet our team and visit the Rewilding Europe Seminar ‘Making Europe a Wilder place’ on October 9!
See you there!