Making Europe a wilder place
Rewilding breathes life back into our landscapes. It helps us reconnect with the wonders of Europe’s spectacular wild nature. It is our best hope for a future where people and nature not only co-exist, but flourish.
Rewilding is about:
Nature’s own ways
Nature knows best when it comes to survival and self-governance.
We can give it a helping hand by creating the right conditions – by removing dykes and dams to free up rivers, by reducing active management of wildlife populations, by allowing natural forest regeneration, and by reintroducing species that have disappeared as a result of man’s actions.
Then we should step back and let nature manage itself.
Bringing back wildlife
European wildlife species have strongly declined, even in our wildest areas. Some of them have even gone extinct, while they play a critically important ecological role. Rewilding works to restore lost species guilds by giving them space to thrive, by population enhancement, and by reintroducing key native species.
Ensuring wellbeing
When nature is healthy, we are healthier too. We rely on the natural world for water, food and air. There is a growing realisation that connecting with wild nature makes us feel good and keeps us mentally and physically well.
Rewilding is about reconnecting a modern society – both rural and urban – with wilder nature. We invite people to experience and live in these new, rewilded landscapes.
Delivering for the future
There is no defined end point for rewilding. The aim is to support nature-driven processes, which in turn will bring about wilder nature. This takes time and space. Rewilding is about moving up a scale of wildness, where every step moving up this scale is seen as progress.
If we create and protect areas where rewilding can take place, both people and wildlife will benefit in the long term.
About this project
Fred’s involvement
ForestPeace Foundation supports this organization financially. ForestPeace Foundation is founded and funded by Fred Matser.