On Tuesday 26 January the Goed Geld Gala, the annual charity gala of Dutch Postcode Lottery, took place at the Carré Theatre, Amsterdam. During the wonderful gala Rewilding Europe received 500,000 euros in support of its rewilding work across Europe.
Today, ARK Nature and Rewilding Europe have renewed their partnership with the signing of another three-year agreement for cooperation. This cooperation includes continuation of existing work like developing the European Wildlife Bank and the European Rewilding Network, but also possible new activities such as promoting the role of carrion and scavengers in Rewilding Europe’s rewilding areas.
Rewilding Europe and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation officially signed a partnership agreement, to identify and conduct joint projects in line with both organisations’ fields of interest and geographical priorities. The signing ceremony took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, in the presence of HSH the Prince of Monaco, alongside the Eighth Award Ceremony of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the world premiere screening of ‘Les Saisons’, the latest documentary movie produced by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud to rediscover the European lands that we have shared with wild animals from the last ice age until the present day.
The Oder Delta, straddling the border area of Poland and Germany on the Baltic Sea coast, has today officially become part of the Rewilding Europe initiative. After three years of intensive preparations with many different authorities and stakeholders, four organisations agreed to start working together to put the area on the European map as an inspiring example of rewilding, for the benefit of both people and nature. An event held today in Tanowo on the Polish side, with many local partners and stakeholders present, marked the start of this initiative.
On June 5 another event was held to share experience between members of the European Rewilding Network. This time the subject was about coexistence between people and large carnivores. This sixth web-based seminar included a presentation of two best-practice examples from areas with existing conflicts between local people and wildlife in Bulgaria and Spain. Webinar discussions focused on innovative methods as to how to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts, and turn such problems into new opportunities.
One year ago the European bison, the largest land mammal on our continent, returned to its old haunts in the Southern Carpathians. One year later, during a second major release event on 12 and 13 June last week, the number of animals doubled as a next step to create a viable population of free roaming bison in this Natura 2000 site.
On June 6, HSH Princess Theodora von Liechtenstein and HSH Prince Alexander von Liechtenstein visited Romania with the Green Teen Team Foundation to launch a school programme with young students from Armenis and Teregova, together with Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania. Theodora is the founder of the foundation whose objective is to help to save endangered species of plants and animals to conserve our planet’s biodiversity. This is done, in part, by empowering children to be able to make changes to their lives, consequently the lives of others and the life of the planet.
In its third Annual Review, Rewilding Europe reports back on its achievements in 2014. Building a sound base during the first three years of the initiative to create lasting results in the longer term, started to pay off in various ways. Significant milestones and tangible results were achieved within the three main pillars of Rewilding Europe: rewilding, enterprise and communication.
We have experienced that there is a lot of interest with students in topics that Rewilding Europe is addressing within its initiative.
Rewilding Europe is looking for a new, passionate, dedicated and experienced colleague to fulfill the position of Regional Manager (maximum 1.0 fte).