Welcome to the Global Rewilding Alliance blog…
An inspiring collection of rewilding stories, thought-pieces, reflections, news items and more.
Fundación Montescola: Wild Horses in Spain are Firefighters
The Global Rewilding Alliance continues to grow. This week, we warmly welcome Fundación Montescola who are restoring communal land and preventing wildfire by partnering with the local Galician Wild Horses. They restore mixed deciduous forests, rewet peatlands, and spearhead a model for community-led rewilding.
Photo credit: Fundación Montescola.
Restoring nature, restoring trust: Why people matter in nature recovery
Restoring nature is about more than just landscapes – it is about people. By embracing engagement and sharing decision-making where appropriate, we can build trust, reduce resistance and create lasting, meaningful change for nature and communities alike. Martin Varley, Programme Manager for Cumbria Connect, explores why community engagement is essential for successful nature recovery in this article by the Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Programme.
Photo credit: David Morris.
Thousand Year Trust: A Legacy That Will Grow Beyond Us All
The Global Rewilding Alliance has grown to a strong network of over 250 organisations that are restoring nature around the world. This week, we warmly welcome Thousand Year Trust who restoring and expanding the network of the often-overlooked UK temperate rainforests. Showing the world how they are unsung superheroes in improving climate, biodiversity and human health.
Photo credit: Thousand Year Trust
Tigers and Climate: First-of-its-kind research in Asia finds a dual win for nature and climate policy
New research published in Global Change Biology (Roberts et al., 2025) reveals that forests with healthy populations of wild Tigers store more carbon than ‘empty forests’ without Tigers — advancing the goals of both the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This provides additional compelling evidence that wildlife recovery is a critical, yet often overlooked, tool in climate mitigation.
Photo credit: Girishacf from Getty Images
Olson Bison Rewilding Project: Why the Olson Family’s Work Matters for Rewilding
Step into the vast plans of Manitoba and Alberta, as we warmly welcome the Olson Bison Rewilding Project to our Alliance! With over 5,000 Bison roaming freely across areas in Alberta and Manitoba, the Olson family have quietly grown this passionate project into one of the most significant family-led rewilding efforts in North America.
Photo credit: Tom Olson.
The Path to a Wilder Future: MSc in Nature Recovery, Restoration and Rewilding
The University of Manchester is launching the world’s first MSc in Nature Recovery, Restoration, and Rewilding, and the GRA is a proud collaborator. This program offers a unique blend of practical, field-based learning and interdisciplinary insights into nature restoration, designed for anyone passionate about making a tangible difference in the rewilding world.
Image credits: Monkey Business Images
Wilder Reads: A Review of An Irish Atlantic Rainforest
We are delighted to introduce Wilder Reads: a library for our favourite and recommended rewilding-related books. Alister Scott, our Executive Director, reviews An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding by Eoghan Daltun.
Photo credit: Paulo Nunes dos Santos/ The New York Times
Playing with marbles – the inversion of nature
It is a mild spring day in England, and I am on a passenger train headed for central London. I have a couple of unremarkable errands to run, and I am in no great hurry. In my carriage, I overhear a young child ask a grown-up one of those deceptively challenging questions that infant minds like to slip into a conversation from time to time. The inquiry is this: “What is the world?”…
In the Rewilding Reflections series, Joe Gray is taking us on some thoughtful journeys through the wider dimensions of rewilding.
ReforestACCIÓN: Transforming Mexico’s Landscape Through Community and Nature Recovery
The Global Rewilding Alliance has grown to a strong network of over 250 organisations that are restoring nature around the world. This week, we warmly welcome ReforestACCIÓN who are supporting native woodland ecosystems across Mexico.
Photo credit: JHVEPhoto from Getty Images Pro
Gorongosa: the silent landscape transformed into an ecosystem teeming with biodiverse life
Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique is perhaps Africa’s greatest wildlife restoration story. Created in 2008, the partnership has transformed the silent, empty landscape into a booming healthy ecosystem that supports local communities within and without its borders. A beacon of hope for others to follow in the footsteps; we can rewild our planet for people and nature.
Photo credit: Gorongosa Restoration Project
Natural Neighbours: Urban Rewilding Making Nature Accessible to All
The Global Rewilding Alliance is growing each week! We warmly introduce Natural Neighbours, with their vision of towns and cities that reach their full potential to host wildlife. They ask: How can we bring the wonders of the natural world to the 9.6 million people in England living in neighbourhoods without gardens or greenspaces?
Photo credit: Natural Neighbours.
Rewilding Germany, One Stück at a Time
The Global Rewilding Alliance has grown to a strong network of over 200 organisations that are restoring nature around the world. This week, we warmly welcome eMission-X that is leading a quiet, yet understated revolution in land management across Northern Germany.
Photo credit: eMission-X, 5176 sqm of eMission-X’s moorland.
Atazis: Rewilding Iran through ‘Green Life Empowerment’
The Global Rewilding Alliance is growing each week! We warmly introduce Atazis, our new Alliance Partner, who are connecting many stakeholders in Iran to the concept of “Green Life” through education, empowerment, research, dialogue, and collaboration.
Photo credit: Elena Odareeva from Getty Images
The Global Rewilding Alliance: Annual Report 2024
Welcome the 2024 Annual Review of the Global Rewilding Alliance Secretariat. A year of consolidation. Institutionally, the Secretariat set up itself as an Association in the Canton of Geneva hosted by the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) – an award-winning independent think tank focusing on climate change, natural...
A Growing Voice for the Wild: Rewildology, a podcast worth listening to
The Global Rewilding Alliance has grown to a strong network of over 200 organisations that are restoring nature around the world. This week, we warmly welcome Rewildology to the alliance, a podcast that spotlights the voices of the rewilding movement. Bringing listeners the wild, uplifting stories of transformative efforts to rewild our world.
Photo credit: Ted Fletcher from Getty Images
Jaguars, Coffee & Cattle: Is Coexistence Possible?
The Global Rewilding Alliance is growing each week! We warmly introduce WebConserva, that are building wildlife corridors and coffee plantations to improve human-wildlife coexistence in this region that boasts incredible biodiversity, among which are jaguars, pumas, and Andean bears.
Photo credit: WebConserva
(Green) Bridging the Gap: can corporate companies empower corridor growth while reaping benefits of their own?
Swathi Palanichamy introduces their study, ‘Developing a Framework to Enable Wildlife Corridors to Attract Corporate Sponsorship,’ shedding light on the business case for wildlife corridors after assessing companies’ past involvement with environmental projects, motivators and barriers to investing in wildlife corridors. Recommendations for creators of wildlife corridors as well as policymakers are provided, as well as direct insight from interviewees.
Photo credit: CreativeNature_nl from Getty Images
Tackling poverty and climate change through rewilding
The Global Rewilding Alliance has grown to a strong network of over 200 organisations that are restoring nature around the world. This week, we warmly welcome Redemption Against Poverty Org (RAPO) to the alliance, who are bridging the dual challenges of poverty and climate change through nature restoration that keep local communities at the heart of positive action.
Photo credit: RAPO
AWE for Nature Foundation: Pioneering a Nature Economy for Africa
Rewilding is happening now, on every continent. This week we warmly welcome the AWE for Nature Foundation, that is redefining how natural ecosystems are valued and protected in Africa, building a future where African wilderness is preserved and financed for decades to come.
Photo credit: AWE for Nature Foundation
Rewilding Together – Stories from the Field
Together with our Alliance Partners, we have listened to people. We have listened to: farmers and fishers who are seeing the abundance return in their lands and waters; landowners, neighbours and volunteers that are witnessing the joy of nature’s recovery; and many people working together for a wilder world. We have brought these voices together into a visual document – Rewilding Together; Stories from the Field – and now we will let them speak for themselves.
Photo credit: Byrdyak from Getty Images Pro.
Restoring Life on a Former Golf Course
People and local communities at the core of this movement are united for nature recovery, and the movement is growing. This week we warmly introduce Severson Dells to the alliance, who are restoring the native prairies, oak savannas, and wetlands of a former golf course, while also transforming the former clubhouse into a centre for education and community events.
Photo credit: Severson Dells
The official handover of ‘Taking Animals Into Account’ to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
On 4th March 2025, the team of the Global Rewilding Alliance met with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands Secretariat for an official handover of the recently published report ‘Taking Animals Into Account’, a report on wetlands and wild animals. From the discussions it became clear that the rewilding perspective is of high relevance for meeting the objectives of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
Photo credit: Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Rewilding the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
The Global Rewilding Alliance are a growing network of rewilders that are bringing back nature all over the world. This week we warmly welcome Instituto Serra do Tanagará, who are rewilding the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
Photo credit: Artush Foto
V5 Initiative: Rewilding the Venezuelan Amazonia
We warmly introduce V5 and their SOSOrinoco Initiative, that are helping to protect and rewild the Venezuelan Amazon rainforest and support the local communities at the core of their work. SOSOrinoco is committed to supporting indigenous communities whose cultures and livelihoods are deeply intertwined with the health of the rainforest.
Photo credit: V5 Initiative.
Oltuala: Friends and Families Create a Home for Many
We warmly introduce Oltuala that are showing that everyone has a role to play in nature restoration. Back in 2021, four close friends came together to purchase land on the border of the majestic Maasai Mara National Reserve, and now nature is coming roaring back.
The Oltuala team. Photo credit: Olutala.
Rewilding Southern Africa Magazine: Nature and Storytelling
This week we introduce you to a new Alliance Partner that, through engaging storytelling and in-depth features, highlights rewilding initiatives that restore habitats and biodiversity. REWILDING SOUTHERN AFRICA is an upmarket quarterly publication that inspires action by celebrating nature’s resilience and connecting readers to the urgent need for nature’s recovery.
Photo credit: As published in REWILDING SA – photo by Clint Ralph.
Little by little: Rewilding the microcosmos
When we think of rewilding, it is natural for our mind’s eye to open onto a wide vista, be it a swathe of forest untamed by wolves, a tract of grassland where large grazers have been renewed, or an expanse of ocean in which marine mammals, despite centuries of setbacks, are exuberant once again. But while such an outlook is broad in its perception of grandeur, it misses those smaller elements of life that are essential for the thriving of ecosystems and which contribute so much to the flourishing beauty of Earth…
In the Rewilding Reflections series, Joe Gray is taking us on some thoughtful journeys through the wider dimensions of rewilding.
Mossy Earth: turning everyday people into rewilders
Welcoming Mossy Earth to the alliance. A rewilding membership that restores nature across a wide range of landscapes, and gets everyday people participating in the return of healthy ecosystems. Read about the return of Flooded Forests, Ocelots, Coral Reefs, Oyster Gardens, Ground Squirrels, and the enchanting underwater Cave Salamanders! The list could go on… but let’s dive in!
Photo credit: Clara Manolache
Protecting Africa’s Wildlife – the rewilding success stories of the Global Humane Society
We warmly welcome the Global Humane Society to the alliance, and join us in discovering their mission to conserve, rewild and protect Africa’s wildlife and wilderness areas by delving into some of their rewilding success stories. Rewilding with cheetahs in the Eastern Cape, bolstering wild African penguin populations in Cape Town and combatting poaching with AI; this is packed with wild success stories!
Photo credit: Bennymarty from Getty Images.
The Corbett Foundation: Safeguarding India’s Wild Heart
We warmly introduce The Corbett Foundation, who are dedicated to protecting, restoring and rewilding India’s most iconic wildlife and their habitats. They work towards a harmonious coexistence between human beings and wildlife across the country.
Photo credit: Pushyamitra Halder
How we and our wetlands rely on wild animals – a report to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
On World Wetlands Day, the Global Rewilding Alliance and ten partner organisations launch a compelling report, Taking Animals into Account, that reveals how wild animals play an underestimated but vital role in keeping the world’s wetlands functional and resilient. Through 11 case studies, the study outlines impactful evidence that reintroducing and protecting key wild animal species could be a game-changer in tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, invasive species control, and water security challenges.
Wallowing Water Buffalo. Photo credit: Stephane Jaquemet from Getty Images.
Bat Conservation International: Securing a Wilder Future for Bats
Our newest two Alliance partners, Bat Conservation International and the Northeast Mexico Agave Restoration Network, are working to restore agave habitats so that people and bats can thrive. Creating a thriving bi-national migratory corridor, their work is ambitious while supporting both bat recovery and sustainable livelihoods.
Photo credit: Horizonline Pictures.
Rewilding with Leopards Knows No Borders
Based in Northern Iraq, Leopards Beyond Borders are committed to rewilding across the Middle East through the return of apex predators like the Persian leopard. Rewilding these landscapes and species requires cooperation that must transcend political boundaries and conflicts. Get to know our Alliance Partner.
Photo credit: Artush
Rewilding entire islands for nature and people worldwide
This week we warmly welcome Island Conservation, who are rewilding entire islands that host a massive amount of our planet’s biodiversity and unique endemic species despite their relatively small land mass. Their team is devoted to restoring islands for nature and people worldwide, envisioning a world filled with vibrant biodiversity, resilient oceans, and thriving island communities.
Photo credit: Island Conservation.
The Wild Side of 2024 – Celebrating the year’s many successes in the global rewilding movement
As we draw near to the end of this wild year, we are taking you on a journey around the world to celebrate the remarkable strides made in rewilding. From African Wild Dogs to European Wildcats, Pangolins to Eastern Quolls, countless species have been reintroduced, their home landscapes restored, and entire ecosystems are now thriving across all continents! Rewilders are having a global impact; planting seeds of hope through a wide range of positive actions.
Photo credit: Jan Mengr, Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative.
How to Build the Network Effects: Global Rewilding Communicators Network – September 2024 Edition
The Global Rewilding Communicators Network aims to connect communicators active in the rewilding movement from all around the world. The focus of this session was on ‘how to build the network effects within the rewilding movement’. Go ‘behind the scenes’ and find our summary of the main takeaways in this article.
Photo credits: Warren Farnell from Getty Images
Animating the carbon cycle: the nature-based solution addressing both our climate and ecological emergencies
Animating the Carbon Cycle (ACC) is an emerging field of science and policy, producing rigorous, peer-reviewed evidence to show how nature recovery is a credible, rapid and cost-efficient solution to address both the climate and biodiversity crises. A new comprehensive platform brings together tools and resources from collaborators in this field.
The ACC website (animatingcarbon.earth) is a comprehensive and regularly updated platform dedicated to providing the tools, resources, and practical guides for key stakeholders.
Being careful with words: Towards a language that respects and reverences nature
The rewilding movement is delivering positive change around the planet, and the momentum behind it continues to grow. Through a plethora of interconnected projects, humanity is honouring nature and offering reparation for past misdeeds. Yet, within society at large, much of the language that we use in describing the more-than-human world is rooted in a history of exploitation…
In the Rewilding Reflections series, Joe Gray is taking us on some thoughtful journeys through the wider dimensions of rewilding.
Photo Credit: Eurasian magpie by Alexis Lours
Three rewilders proving that everyone has a role to play in nature recovery
Welcome to three incredible rewilding organisations that are proving that everyone has a role to play in nature restoration, each in a holistic, community-oriented and inspiring way. We introduce you to three rewilding organisations from our network so that you can hear about some of the exciting success stories, challenges and ambitious aims. We warmly welcome: The Forktree Project, Reduce Reuse Grow and Rewild New Jersey Community Cooperative.
Photo credit: Reduce Reuse Grow.
Key outcomes from the CBD COP16
Our team came away from the Convention on Biological Diveristy (CBD) COP16 inspired and energised with a clear impression: governments are waking up to the crucial message that we must partner with nature. Recognising and integrating wild animals, rewilding and indigenous people’s political power in the implementation of the CBD. The international policy community accepts the link between nature and climate. Here are our reflections.
Photo credit: United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity