45 European organisations have come together this week in Austria to launch the new European Rewilding Coalition.
The coalition, convened by Rewilding Europe, was endorsed by rewilding organisations from 16 different European countries.
During the meeting in Vienna, the organisations mapped out future priorities and examined ways to work together to increase impact and scale up nature recovery across the continent.
The coalition stated that there has been a rapid increase in the development of Europe’s rewilding movement in the last decade.
However, the group noted that “there is still a lot of work to be done to escalate the benefits that rewilding can deliver”.
European rewilding
Launching this week’s gathering, Rewilding Europe executive director Frans Schepers said that rewilding is gaining traction as a social movement and growing increasingly popular “as it captures people’s hearts and minds”.
“With so many countries represented in Vienna, it was hugely exciting to meet such a diverse range of rewilding practitioners already carrying out great work across Europe – to create and strengthen friendships, alignment, motivation, and synergy.
“We can only restore nature at scale in Europe if we work with nature itself to make that happen.
“This needs a paradigm shift in the way we view nature, as an ally in achieving our ambitions. I’m optimistic this will happen,” he said.
By the organisations joining forces, Rewilding Europe feels this generation has a unique opportunity, for the first time, to upgrade European nature.
The group said that nature in Europe is “hugely degraded” and that rewilding can “create the conditions for nature to heal itself in a way that is cost-effective and available right now”.
It added this is is an “opportunity to tackle the twin biodiversity and climate crises, and to reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, such as drought, catastrophic wildfire and flooding“.
The new coalition is aiming to move the rewilding movement forwards and amplify landscape scale nature recovery.
“The coalition will result in a stronger, more coherent, better-networked rewilding movement,” says Amy Duthie, from Rewilding Europe, said.
“Moving forwards, open communications between all members, task forces, and in-person events will enable the group to stay aligned and accelerate rewilding across Europe.
“By focusing on the restoration of nature at scale and fostering public and political support, we can pave the way to a future where nature thrives and communities flourish,” she added.
Some of the 45 members who are involved in the European Rewilding Coalition include:
- Rewilding Europe;
- ARK Rewilding Netherlands;
- Rewilding Apennines (Italy);
- Rewilding Britain;
- Rewilding France;
- Snowchange (Finland);
- Rewilding Romania;
- Rewilding Ukraine;
- Rewilding Sweden.