Healthy wetlands are vital for biodiversity, climate, and local communities. In the Oder Delta, the rewetting of the Rożnowo Plain is showcasing the transformative impact of rewilding and delivering wide-ranging benefits.

How can rewilding enhance nature and the benefits it provides, as well as generate stakeholder support? By answering these questions, a new study in the Oder Delta could lead to the scaling up of rewilding in Germany.

Ongoing measures to reconnect Lake Kartal with neighbouring lakes and the River Danube are seeing wildlife populations rebound and driving the development of the local economy.

The campaign, conducted as part of the Dam Removal Europe (DRE) initiative, saw nearly 20,000 euros contributed by Dutch donors. This will fund the removal of 10 obsolete dams from the Kogilnik River in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta. The dismantling programme, which is set to begin this summer, will bring significant and wide-ranging benefits to local people and wild nature.

Backed by the Natural Capital Financing Facility, a joint initiative of the European Investment Bank and the European Commission, the loans will support new forest and peatland restoration projects that enhance biodiversity, support wildlife comeback and deliver greater value to people.

Rewilding Europe is delighted to welcome the Wallasea Island Wild Coast Project to the European Rewilding Network. Comprising 850 hectares of tidal saltmarsh and mudflats, brackish lagoons, grazing marsh and freshwater grassland, as well as arable bird cover, this landmark conservation and engineering project represents the largest man-made marine wetland area in the United Kingdom. The addition takes the number of network members to 67 (including Rewilding Europe’s eight operational areas), distributed right across Europe.

Inviting widespread public support, the objective of the campaign is to keep the EU’s Water Framework Directive as rigorous as possible. With many EU member states failing to meet the targets of the directive, rewilding can help to improve the health of European water ecosystems and guarantee sustainable supplies of freshwater.

Looking back at a fantastic week in the ”Pantanal of Europe”, where I did a photo mission for Rewilding Europe, all well organised by Rewilding Europe’s man on the ground – Cristian Mititelu. Boat trips, canoe trips, horse cart rides, hikes and ultra-light flights through or over the different habitats of this huge and to a great part still pretty wild area. And it is getting wilder…