We are very happy to announce that the Swedish Postcode Lottery has decided to support our initiative for the coming two years, in our endeavors to make Europe a wilder place!
The Swedish Postcode Lottery is very excited about Rewilding Europe and has chosen to support us in a range of activities, mainly on wildlife recovery and promotion and outreach. The main focus will be one three different objectives: 1) the breeding and reintroduction of European bison in a number of rewilding project areas, 2) setting up a Rewilding Europe Wildlife Bank and 3) support to a large outdoor exhibition in Stockholm in 2012. The total amount of funding is 3 million Swedish Kronor, which will make a real difference to us.
The breeding and reintroduction of the European bison is an important element in at least three of the current five Rewilding Europe projects. Rewilding Europe wants to play a key role in the long term survival of the species through setting up a Rewilding Bison Action Plan (RBAP), by establishing new, viable, free living bison populations in completely natural conditions.
The Rewilding Europe Wildlife Bank is another new, very innovative mechanism which is meant to ensure a sufficient number of large herbivores (in particular European wild horse and Aurochs) to become available for natural grazing in the rewilding areas. This mechanism (formerly called the European Herd Fund) has been successful in The Netherlands, Latvia and Bulgaria and is now ready for application at a Europe-wide scale, based on business principles.
The Outdoor Exhibition in Stockholm will be a next and important exhibition of Wild Wonders of Europe – Rewilding Europe’s communication partner – with the main aim to reach a wide, general public, to inspire them and become passionate about our European natural heritage. The exhibition will be closely linked to Rewilding Europe’s activities.
In many ways, Sweden is an important country for Rewilding Europe, and it also has huge potential for rewilding initiatives. We are excited to have noticed that a number of organizations in Sweden are preparing to submit a nomination for a rewilding project in their country for the next round of 5 projects that Rewilding Europe is planning to announce in 2013. Moreover, we expect the rewilding concept to really be picked up in Sweden, also in many other locations, in an even broader way. We are very much looking forward to working with the Swedish Postcode Lottery, this is a very encouraging start of Sweden becoming one of the key countries involved in the Rewilding of Europe.
