People living in and around rewilding areas are critical to the success of rewilding efforts. A significant part of rewilding involves working with local stakeholders, including everyday citizens, to understand their perspectives and priorities. Many will have important roles to play in the rewilding process.
Slide 1. Stewards and land managers. Local people, municipalities, and other stakeholders often own, manage, or have established user rights on land in rewilding areas, related to activities such as farming, grazing, forestry, hunting and tourism. Rewilding must respect their needs and be responsive to their concerns and opportunities. Often, they have skills and knowledge related to traditional land uses that can be used to support nature recovery. For example, former shepherds can play an important role in monitoring and tracking wild herds of grazing animals, or in safeguarding livestock as predators such as wolves return to the landscape.
Slide 2. Local governance. Resistance grows when there is a feeling that ‘others’ are making decisions over what a landscape should look like, or which species it should contain. Local people feel, and often are, responsible for their land and surroundings. It is vital to support, enable, and work in partnership with local communities and stakeholders to make informed decisions about their direct surroundings and livelihoods in relation to rewilding. You will learn in Module 5 how wildlife-smart communities in the Central Apennines in Italy are bringing together different stakeholders to discuss, implement and oversee practical ways to coexist with the endangered Marsican brown bears in the landscape, and support the ongoing recovery of the species.
Slide 3. Local government officers. These are often ‘gatekeepers’ who can enable rewilding. They are frequently responsible for granting permission and licences related to land use, so it is important to understand their position and interests when rewilding.
Slide 4. Residents. Many communities have a deep sense of belonging to a landscape, with strong cultural connections. Understanding and celebrating these can honour and preserve these connections, fostering a sense of pride and stewardship for the landscape, and allow them to embrace the new rewilding narrative in their own way. For example, archaeologists working in Portugal's Greater Côa Valley – a key rewilding landscape for the Rewilding Portugal team – discovered a six-metre-long rock face carved with images of aurochs, deer, and ibex. Believed to be 23,000 years old, the carvings indicate just how important wild animals were to our European ancestors. The discovery inspired a festival of arts in the Côa Valley, which brought together artists from across Europe. The event drew significant numbers of visitors from across Portugal and further afield; celebrated local culture, nature, and history; and delivered wide-ranging economic benefits to businesses and communities in this remote area.
Slide 5. Local business and enterprises. Rewilding can create economic opportunities for communities in or near rewilded areas through jobs related to habitat restoration, wildlife monitoring and nature-based tourism. The development of business networks can empower local entrepreneurs by fostering collaboration with other businesses, and by enabling the development of attractive business proposition for the landscape. You will learn more about this in Module 4.
Slide 6. Teachers and students. Engaging local people in educational programmes and outreach efforts can increase awareness and support for rewilding. European bison disappeared from Romania over 200 years ago. Since 2014, Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania – and more recently Rewilding Romania – have been working together to reintroduce this iconic species in the Southern Carpathians. To help build engagement with the local communities, Bison School Clubs are offered to children from fifth to eight grades. Children learn about the practicalities of reintroducing bison through play, drawing, and debate, and generate ideas about ways to solve challenges in their local community. These have included everything from a shelter for stray animals to a dance festival.
Slide 7. Young adults. Young people have a historic opportunity to become the new generation leading and taking rewilding forwards. After decades of biodiversity loss, young people see the opportunity and the need to ‘bend the curve’ and bring back wild nature to Europe. The choices they make – through their employment, education, purchases, hobbies, and holidays – can contribute to a more vital, nature-rich future. Rewilding Europe's European Young Rewilders network harnesses the energy, skills, creativity, drive, and passion of young people under 30 across Europe, inspiring and empowering them to take rewilding onwards and upwards. Through the network, they exchange news and knowledge, take rewilding action and bring rewilding to their generation.
People from all of these groups can become advocates for policies and practices that support rewilding efforts, both at local and national levels. Their voices and votes can influence decisions related to land use and nature recovery.
Countries across Europe have committed to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022 (CBD Convention on Biological Diversity), which means they must restore 30% of their terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine habitats by 2030. With each country developing plans to restore nature, local people and organisations can be part of a movement to support and encourage political leaders to prioritise these commitments.