The Iberian Highlands of Spain have struggled with rural depopulation and economic decline for many years. Today, rewilding is helping communities in the landscape turn these challenges into new opportunities — creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and enabling nature to become a powerful driver of local prosperity.
Growing with nature
Winding her way between stands of young, lichen-clad oak trees, nature guide Soraya Espinosa leads a group of excited young customers through the open forest. Shafts of sunlight throw dappled patterns on the undergrowth, while the air hangs warm and musty, thick with the scent of juniper. It’s still early morning in Spain’s Iberian Highlands, but temperatures are already rising fast.
Emerging at the edge of a broad clearing, Soraya motions everyone to stop. Up ahead, moving slowly across this verdant grassland oasis, are the day’s prime attraction — a large herd of Przewalski’s horses, their ochre coats gleaming as they graze under the cloudless August sky. Attentive mares nuzzle their foals, which already sport the mohawk-style manes that characterise this ancient, iconic species.
“I love these horses, and I love that they are thriving here,” says Soraya, who began guiding visitors to see them in the spring of 2024, through her nature-based tour company El Observario. “They are making nature here healthier and more resilient — by opening up the forest and creating natural firebreaks, for example. But more than this, their rewilding has given me an opportunity to settle and flourish here by supporting my business. I feel like I have grown together with this herd — these beautiful animals have given me a whole new perspective on life. For that, I’m incredibly thankful.”
From “empty” Spain to a future filled with promise
Przewalski’s horses arrived in the municipality of Villanueva de Alcorón in 2023, as part of Rewilding Spain’s efforts to breathe new life into the Iberian Highlands, together with local partners. It was clear from the outset that rewilding the landscape — which covers 870,000 hectares of the far larger Sistema Ibérico mountain range in central-eastern Spain — would need to revitalise lives and livelihoods, as well as nature.
“The only way for our rewilding efforts to be successful here is with the support of local communities,” explains Rewilding Spain team leader Pablo Schapira. “One of the best ways of generating that support is by demonstrating that rewilding can deliver socio-economic benefits — as well as ecological ones.
“For decades, people have left the Iberian Highlands looking for better opportunities elsewhere, which is why this area is part of the so-called ‘Empty Spain’. But most residents want to keep living in town and villages here — it’s just a question of how they do that and what they get in return. By using nature recovery as an engine that drives economic growth, rewilding is giving more and more people the means to stay, and also a reason for new people to settle here.”
A deep-rooted tradition
In a forest of maritime pine trees — located between the villages of Corduente and Torremocha del Pinar inside the Alto Tajo Natural Park — the air is filled with a crisp, invigorating aroma, while the ground is carpeted in a thick, crunchy layer of dried pine needles. The early morning stillness is broken by conversation, laughter, and the clanking of metal. These are the sounds of trainee resin tappers at work.
Resin tapping — a practice with deep roots in the Iberian Highlands — is the process of sustainably harvesting resin from living trees by making incisions in the bark to expose resin ducts, from which the resin flows out and is collected. This is then sold for use in a wide range of products, including cosmetics, adhesives, printing inks, coatings, and emulsifiers. The tapping is carried out in a way that minimises harm to trees and allows them to recover.
Tapping into new opportunities
Rewilding Spain launched its resin school in January this year, as part of a broader strategy to keep forests in the landscape standing and healthy. Sustainable resin tapping supports this goal by creating economic incentives for conservation, helping prevent forests from being cleared for uses such as timber production or agriculture.
The areas of forest used for training — which are home to around 15,000 trees — are leased from local municipalities. Through this approach, rewilding not only protects and restores nature, but also strengthens traditional skills and supports new livelihoods. This is another example of how Rewilding Spain is using nature as a driver of sustainable development, forging stronger connections between people and the natural resources of the Iberian Highlands.
Funded by the Biodiversity Foundation through the Bosque Innova project, the resin school has so far trained seven students. During the training, which typically lasts about 10 months, each student receives a 1,450-euro monthly salary, while they are also taught other forestry-related skills, which will help them to supplement their income from resin tapping once they complete the course.
Changing places
Resin collection is a largely solitary, physically demanding job that only generates money on a seasonal basis. On top of this, fluctuations in the sale price of resin, which are driven by market forces, can make income levels unpredictable. Nevertheless, most of the trainees enrolled in the resin school have plans to stay in the area and continue with resin tapping if they can.
“Together with my girlfriend, I relocated to the Iberian Highlands from Zaragoza last year, where I worked as a bus and delivery driver,” says 44-year-old Luis Moya. “I’d had enough of the city and wanted to live in nature. I love the work itself — learning a mountain trade is something you’d never think you could do in 2025. I would love to stay here long-term because my father was from this area — it feels like I’m closing the circle by returning.”
“It’s very hard to survive on just resin tapping,” admits fellow trainee Guillermo Castaño, who lived most of his life in a village near Madrid before coming to the rewilding landscape. “But there are other nature-based opportunities here, such as working as a forest ranger. In combination with other jobs, I hope to lease some pines and continue with the tapping as a profession, because it’s something I really enjoy doing.”
Jobs and income revitalise communities
Because of the low population density in the Iberian Highlands, every rewilding action carried out here can create significant benefits for local residents. Every herbivore herd released and every forest rewilded creates opportunities, from guiding visitors to sustaining local businesses. In this way, rewilding not only restores natures — it also breathes new life into communities across the landscape.
“If we reintroduce some animals or support nature recovery in the landscape and this creates one or two jobs — either directly or through increased tourism – then maybe this will enable one or two families to return to a local village of 30 people,” says Pablo Schapira. “This can mean the difference between having a school or shop in that village open or closed.”
To date, the establishment of Rewilding Spain has directly created 21 jobs, with the team continuing to expand. Most of these positions have been filled by people already living in the landscape. Three people have returned to the Iberian Highlands thanks to the initiative, with three more moving to the landscape with their families. Rewilding Spain’s volunteering programme, which has so far seen 54 volunteers enrolled, also generates economic benefits for local communities, with the team renting a number of properties in local villages to accommodate them.
Helping nature-based entrepreneurs succeed
Soraya Espinosa, who now lives in a village close to Villanueva de Alcorón, hasn’t always been an expert on Przewalski’s horses. Before she started guiding people to see them, she received information, training, and other support from members of the Rewilding Spain team. Her company, El Observario, is one of eight nature-based enterprises with which the team have signed partnership agreements, while she can also take her customers to a wildlife hide located near the horses for free.
“Upskilling entrepreneurs and other people involved in nature-based tourism is a way of ensuring that businesses are as successful as possible,” says Pablo Schapira. “As nature recovery in the Iberian Highlands attracts more visitors — including ones from abroad — we felt it was important to give them a helping hand. We offer free English lessons, for example, with a focus on tourism-related vocabulary. Everything contributes to the same goal: nature and people thriving together.”
“My English isn’t perfect, but it’s improving,” says Soraya. “Sometimes, when you’re standing in front of a group of Przewalski’s horses, for example, nature speaks for itself.”
Join us
As nature thrives, so do people. Join us in shaping a future where healthy nature delivers tangible benefits to people living in and around our rewilding landscapes.