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Course

Introduction to Rewilding

Introduction to Rewilding

About this course

  • 24 hours study
  • Level 2: Intermediate
  • Gain a digital badge

Ratings

3.9 out of 5 stars

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You can start learning at any time. By signing up and enrolling you can track your progress and earn a Statement of Participation upon completion, all for free.

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    • Rewilding – offering hope for the future

      Rewilding offers a hopeful new vision for restoring our natural world in the 21st century, with an inspirational message that is capturing hearts and minds on an ever-increasing scale. The growth of the global rewilding movement mirrors a growing desire in society to revitalise nature – not just because nature itself is life-affirming and wonderful, but because such revitalisation can help us to address many of our most pressing challenges.  

      By supporting the recovery of wild nature, and enabling it to function as it should, rewilding can help to fix our climate and reverse biodiversity decline. It can provide recreational and educational opportunities for communities, enhance human health and wellbeing, contribute to the economic revitalisation of rural areas through the creation of new jobs and businesses, and support the preservation of cultural heritage. 

      It is an empowering, inclusive, and immediate solution that can unite people and organisations of all backgrounds and descriptions and engage them in the process of protecting and restoring the natural world. In short, rewilding offers hope of a future where people can thrive alongside healthy, resilient nature.  

           A butterfly.

      In Europe and beyond, a burgeoning number of practical rewilding initiatives are giving nature the space and freedom to manage itself. Inspired by rewilding's positive message and can-do philosophy, more and more people are choosing to become involved in both the practice and science of rewilding. And funding for rewilding is also on the increase, as a growing number of businesses, investment institutions, and philanthropists take financial decisions that help to restore nature in a holistic way. 

      Today, rewilding presents us with a unique and exciting opportunity to upgrade nature and ensure nature recovery delivers game-changing impact. An opportunity to rediscover and reconnect with wild nature to improve our own health and wellbeing. And an opportunity to future-proof nature against our changing climate, by enhancing the health, resilience, and connectivity of natural ecosystems.    

      This course will give you a comprehensive grounding in rewilding. First you will learn about the rewilding movement and what sets rewilding apart from other forms of conservation. You will then learn about the ecological, economic and social aspects of rewilding, before exploring rewilding in terrestrial, freshwater and marine settings. 

      Rewilding is for everyone and we need people of many skills and backgrounds to help nature recover. Throughout the course, you will hear from pioneers of the rewilding movement. Their experience will help you to plan your own rewilding journey. 


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      To be able to do the quizzes, gain the digital badges and receive your course certificate, you must enrol on the course.

      Thank you for your learning choice.

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      © 2025. All rights reserved. Rewilding Europe.

  • Gain a digital badge

    Gain digital badges

    By studying the course you will have the opportunity to gain digital badges – you need to click on the ‘Enrol’ button to be able to do the quizzes and earn the badge.

  • This course is part of a collection

    This course is part of a collection

    This course is part of a collection of courses called Rewilding Europe Learning Hub. There is 1 course in this collection so you may find other courses here that maybe of interest to you.

    See this collection

  • Course learning outcomes

    After studying this course, you should be able to:

    • Recognise the rewilding principles and how they are used on land, in freshwater systems, and in marine environments. 
    • Identify the different groups of people that are relevant to rewilding and plan how you would work with them in real life. 
    • Anticipate the potential contribution rewilding can make to rural communities, as well as people’s concerns, and select the best tools and approaches for the situation. 
    • Determine which rewilding models are most relevant to a particular place as we work to help nature restore itself. 
    • Identify the nature and natural processes that are missing from the European landscape and create your own bold vision of the future. 
    • Reflect on the experience of people leading the rewilding movement and make your own practical rewilding plan.
  • Course dates:

    First Published 20/05/2025.

Course content

Below is the course content. You can click on any section here and it will take you through to this section of the course.

Course Reviews

24 Ratings

24 reviews for this course

This course is rated 3.9

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Please be polite, and avoid your passions turning into contempt for others. We may delete posts that are rude or aggressive; or edit posts containing contact details or links to other websites.

Course reviews

  • Maxime Bineau

    Maxime Bineau7 February 2026 10:36

    Rating entered. No review given

  • Sven Ringling

    Content excellent, platform user experience torturous

    Sven Ringling7 February 2026 12:30

    The content of the course is excellent and well structured. It could be fun and effective to learn about rewilding with this course. Well done, Rewilding Europe!
    However, the practicalities of working through this course on the OU platform are extremely disappointing. Just navigating to the place you left it yesterday is a major endavour.
    Going back and forth for reference: same issues
    Worst are the text boxes you are asked to fill in. Once saved, it goes away never to be seen again. No option to check back or correct. Extremely annoying, when later sections ask you to refere to your answers. Take a screenshot of everything before you hit save.
    Also, the way the system is checking answers in quizzes, where you capture free text instead of multiple choice, is based on a fixed list of answers. Write cows instead of cattle, wood instead of forest, flower instead of flowers, and it's wrong. I'd expect better from a leading university in the age of LLMs. Sorry for having to be harsh, but it's like getting a great car, but without wheels.
    (note: I'm working on mobile, but that should not be the problem im these days.

  • Jacopo Barbieri

    Jacopo Barbieri31 January 2026 1:23

    A good introductory course.

More reviews

24 reviews

About this course

  • 24 hours study
  • Level 2: Intermediate
  • Gain a digital badge

Ratings

3.9 out of 5 stars

Sign up to get more

You can start learning at any time. By signing up and enrolling you can track your progress and earn a Statement of Participation upon completion, all for free.

View this course

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