The European Rewilding Network’s newest member is dedicated to Scottish wildcat conservation and recovery. Around 20 wildcats will be released into the wild each year, with the first releases beginning in June 2023.
The aim of the recently established European Wildlife Comeback Fund is to scale up wildlife reintroduction and population reinforcement across Europe. The fund’s first grant has just enabled the release of two juvenile Eurasian lynx in Western Pomerania, enhancing the genetic diversity of the area’s existing lynx population.
The dunes, moors and marshes of the French southwest coast were once widely grazed by feral bovines. The newest member of the European Rewilding Network is restoring the influence of large herbivores here, enhancing biodiversity and helping to maintain the site’s characteristic patchwork of habitats.
The Italian association Paliurus aims to develop a sustainable nature-based tourism paradigm on the Adriatic coast, protecting and restoring a wilder river delta, supporting local jobs and enhancing the region’s natural diversity.
Finnish NGO Snowchange is working to rewild a growing number of peatlands and forests. Four sites within Snowchange’s burgeoning Landscape Rewilding Programme have just joined the European Rewilding Network, amplifying the benefits for nature, climate, and local indigenous communities.
Scottish NGO Seawilding is working to restore seagrass beds and oyster populations in Loch Craignish, while supporting the creation of green jobs. Joining the European rewilding network will amplify the benefits for nature, climate and local communities.
The public-private Nassonia initiative is working to rewild an area of state-owned forest in the Belgian Ardennes. Membership of the European Rewilding Network will enhance rewilding efforts.
Rewilding Capercaillie is Croatia’s only licensed breeding enterprise for capercaillie, a rare and strictly protected bird of mountainous woodland regions, and the largest member of the grouse family. For almost ten years they have been working to reinforce their diminishing population through captive breeding.
Hosted by Rewilding Europe and the Rewilding Apennines team, the Network’s face to face gathering welcomed 36 rewilding practitioners from 12 countries to the rewilding area. The five-day event proved to be an inspiring platform for exchanging knowledge and ideas to accelerate the upscaling of rewilding principles and best practices across Europe.
The newly established “Reintroducing the Polesskaya horse” initiative is working to rescue one of Europe’s most endangered equine species. European Rewilding Network membership will help the rewilding team realise their vision.
