Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique has evolved from a post-conflict restoration project to a dynamic rewilding model that balances conservation with human well-being. Following the de-faunation of more than 90% of the large wildlife as the consequence of a protracted civil war, the initial focus was on the selective introduction of large herbivores such as buffalo and blue wildebeest. The improvements in law enforcement led to the natural recovery of most other herbivore species as well as of the lion population. Gorongosa’s journey underscores the critical role that conservation can play in promoting peace and reconciliation in conflict areas. The national park has now become a symbol of unity, demonstrating how shared efforts to protect and restore nature can rebuild trust and social cohesion among communities. As the rewilding and human development efforts have matured, the Gorongosa Restoration Project is looking at formalizing and further expanding this approach through the establishment of a Nature-Based Special Economic Zone that encompasses the National Park, Community Conservation Areas, hunting areas, sustainable forestry concessions and agricultural areas. 

Are woolly mammoths on the verge of restoring a modern-day Mammoth Steppe in Alaska? Could the thylacine be brought back to repair degraded ecosystems across Tasmania? And might flocks of dodos be heard squawking once more on the island of Mauritius? The dawn of de-extinction is finally here, with powerful breakthroughs in biotechnology ushering in a new and exciting era of nature restoration. But what goes into resurrecting extinct species and, more importantly, why is the pursuit worthwhile? This presentation will dive into the scientific, ecological, and socio-political processes required to make de-extinction a reality, and how this disruptive new field will transform the future of conservation science forever. 

Chilean Patagonia encompasses over 90% of the territory protected as national parks; it is composed of 17 national parks, protecting 11.8 million hectares and offering nature-based economic development opportunities to over 60 local communities. This presentation analyzes the creation of national parks as a strategy for large-scale conservation and highlights Rewilding Chile’s collaborative approach, as a legacy organization of Tompkins Conservation, in contributing to the creation of seven national parks and the expansion of three others, safeguarding over 4 million hectares. We will specifically present the case study of Patagonia National Park as a success story, showcasing the transformation of a sheep ranch into a national park through a 20-year rewilding process. We will also discuss the current efforts to create Cape Froward National Park by 2025, the southernmost national park in the American continent, and to establish an 8-million-hectare corridor. We will reflect on how these actions align with the Route of Parks of Chilean Patagonia, a territorial vision for one-third of the country, where national parks are seen as drivers of local economies, providing nature-based job opportunities, supporting the well-being of local communities, and fostering a culture of conservation. 

With the race to protect 30/30 there are now two narratives running, the catastrophe narrative we are all familiar with and a positive narrative of growing and evident successes in rewilding the sea and the ocean’s unexpectedly dynamic powers of healing itself.  Yet some of the most imaginative rewilding efforts in Europe – the ban on sandeel fishing, the UK’s protection of its offshore marine protected areas – are now being challenged at the highest level.  The battle continues between the two narratives. 

Abstract - to be confirmed. 

Frans Schepers and David Thomas will describe the context for large landscape nature recovery in Europe, and the main factors for success so far. This will be based on lessons learned from over 25 landscape initiatives, and more than 12 years of practical work within Rewilding Europe and the Endangered Landscapes and Seascapes Programme. 

They will present opportunities and ways forward for scaling up nature recovery at landscape scale, benefiting both nature and future generations, while building the largest landscape restoration and rewilding portfolio at continental scale in the world. 

How inspiring would it be if we could mainstream rewilding globally by 2030? It is the mission of the Global Rewilding Alliance to help catalyse this, so in this opening keynote, Alister will offer a map for seeing where we are in this journey. He will outline some of the steps we can take now to enable the global rewilding movement to scale, and challenge us to think and act more clearly and effectively in our advocacy, offering some key tools to do so. He will finish with some examples from around the world of how rewilding is becoming a key beacon of hope in a brittle, anxious, nonlinear and incomprehensible world. 

For the last 30-40 years wolves have been recolonising through natural dispersal in several regions of Europe where they had been eradicated at different times of the past centuries. The increase in numbers and range has been favoured by the abundance of many types of food resources, the abandonment of mountain agriculture and a renewed acceptance of wolves by large sectors of public opinion. The great ecological and behavioural flexibility of wolves has allowed them to adapt to a diversity of environments and cohabitation with human activities- Wolves are often represented as apex carnivores whose role in the ecosystem would be of paramount importance to maintain a healthy balance of prey and in general at the ecosystem level. However, a critical review of the available evidence does not support this view. Especially in Europe, wolves are not allowed to express any significant large-scale and persistent role at the ecosystem level. Local impacts can be serious and also beneficial but this is rarely of significant ecological value. 

Abstract - to be confirmed. 

Boothby Wildland in Lincolnshire is Nattergal's first project delivering nature-restoration at scale. Now 3 years into its Rewilding journey, life is returning to the 600 hectare ex-arable site, the fields are full of scrub and birds of prey circle the skies. Boothby is a Phase 1 ELMS Landscape Recovery pilot project, having received funding to develop its intervention plans, including river restoration and beaver releases, as well as creating and delivering a best-practice stakeholder engagement programme within the local community. With successful ‘charismatic carbon’ and BNG sales being delivered, Boothby is an exemplar of a successful public-private nature finance model for rewilding at scale. 

Across mainland Europe, the Eurasian lynx is staging a comeback, benefiting from increasing public interest and reduced hunting pressure. Lynx continue to face localised threats from poaching, habitat fragmentation and the isolation of some smaller populations, but overall the population is growing and expanding its range, aided by successful reintroduction programmes across Europe. Meanwhile, Scotland remains part of a shrinking group of European countries that no longer benefit from the presence of any of their native large carnivores. If we are serious about tackling the nature and climate emergencies, we need lynx back. The Lynx to Scotland partnership has been working towards a trial reintroduction of lynx. This would be the first time that a large mammalian predator has been returned to any part of the UK. It would require approval by the Scottish Government, following habitat assessments and full public consultation. 

This presentation introduces Rewilding Argentina's Economy of Nature model, a unique approach to ecosystem restoration. It illustrates how this model enabled the creation of Iberá, the reintroduction of extinct keystone species, and the establishment of a new restorative economy based on thriving ecosystems and cultural heritage. 

Building on the success of Iberá, Rewilding Argentina has expanded its innovative approach to four additional projects across different Argentine ecoregions. Notably, reintroduced species are now naturally dispersing beyond protected areas into the surrounding landscapes. This has inspired a broader regional vision in collaboration with partners in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, focusing on strategies that facilitate both natural and assisted species dispersal while fostering wildlife-human coexistence. The presentation will illustrate how local restoration efforts can evolve into regional conservation corridors, establishing a new model for rewilding in South America.

Large herbivores play a key role in ecosystems. However, rewilding projects in mainland Europe and the UK who want to restore large herbivores to natural landscapes face a legal system designed for traditional livestock. The Lifescape Project is working with projects and other rewilding organisations to tackle this problem. This presentation will: 1. Consider how large herbivores can be a key component of rewilding projects with a significant ecological impact; 2. Provide an overview of the legal treatment of large herbivores in rewilding in the UK and Europe (including legal regulation relating to their management, welfare, health, disease risk etc); 3. Discuss specific legal barriers to using large herbivores in rewilding (including identification rules, rules on collection of fallen stock, animal welfare rules/guidance and disease testing rules); and 4. Look at opportunities for innovation in overcoming barriers and update on Lifescape’s aspiration for a 'kept wild' legal category. 

How can we meaningfully harness the sounds of nature to build trust in rewilding practices? In this presentation, we’ll explore how bioacoustic monitoring can unlock insights into biodiversity by capturing and analysing the soundscapes of ecosystems. We will demonstrate how this approach can track changes in species diversity over time, making it a powerful tool to assess nature recovery. We will delve deeper into approaches to build trust in biodiversity measurements. Taking our lead from the precision measurement industry we hope to make biodiversity measurement as trusted as weighing out flour or taking your pulse. With a specific focus on biodiversity “measurement”, we will explore how the principle of measurement uncertainty can be applied to bioacoustic monitoring as well as the benefits of thinking about uncertainty, including Assessing if change has really occurred, Underpinning confidence in nature investment Developing new “Nature Metrics” with a focus on lower uncertainty.

The purpose of the session is to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by conservation translocations. This will build on recent research and to bring in experiences from other national, and international rewilding/ translocation projects. These may include biological, ecological, socio-political, organisational and regulatory components. The desired outcomes are: 1) For participants to share views on challenges and opportunities, and think about the impact on their objectives, such as reducing extinction risk for species or restoring ecosystem functions. 2) To learn from the experiences of participants to understand how these challenges and opportunities can help us identify how to enable better conservation translocations in the future. 

In this lecture, Harvey Tweats of Celtic Rewilding will share the trials and tribulations of reintroducing some of Britain's most threatened wildlife. Principally, Harvey will discuss how the past can inform the species we could reintroduce and the landscapes we can rewild. From prehistoric pond terrapins to the ornate white stork, Harvey’s work has been varied. He delves into the broader restoration of ancient ecosystems, uncovering the stories of forgotten wildlife and the cutting-edge science driving their return. One key question he poses is how will climate change affect our ability to rewild, and the choice of species to reintroduce? Join him for a thought-provoking exploration of Britain’s lost creatures and the future of rewilding the UK.

This workshop explores the power of artistic storytelling in environmental advocacy and as its own form of rewilding. Art can inspire action, celebrate success, and strengthen rewilding efforts. Participants will examine storytelling techniques through examples from successful environmental arts projects, including my own work. Key Activities: Share and frame rewilding success stories to highlight impact and community engagement. Analyze effective storytelling approaches used by major environmental initiatives for bids, social media, and public outreach. Brainstorm strategies to integrate storytelling into actionable roadmaps for advocacy and collaboration. Through collaborative exercises and discussion, participants will develop tools to amplify their projects’ impact, attract funding, and engage the public. The session concludes with sharing insights and actionable steps to implement their strategies, empowering participants to advance their rewilding goals creatively and effectively.

This lecture discusses how traditional nature reserves can still lead the way in creating ecologically functional and resilient landscapes. It describes how the Purbeck Heaths ‘super-NNR’ in Dorset is leading a transition in the approach to protected site conservation, by linking multiple SSSIs into a single landscape-scale reserve; finding common ground across sectors and with local communities in a vision for nature and people. Management has shifted away from conservation of target features on individual reserves towards natural process restoration at scale, creating a more complex and resilient system. Habitats are more dynamic, but in a landscape already designated for its rare wildlife, how do we know when habitat change or species decline on a particular site is OK - and when should we still intervene with conservation management? Monitoring is key to guiding this transition, from ‘species gardening’ on nature reserves to restoring ecologically functional and more resilient landscapes.

The UK Government has committed to national and international targets to achieve 30% nature recovery by 2030. At Rewilding Britain, we believe that this target should be for at least 30% in rewilding by 2030 – a huge increase from the 1% currently rewilding across Britain. So, how can we achieve such a step change in ambition? We will present our roadmap for achieving this huge change in approach to nature restoration. This will include addressing key questions such as: Do we have the space for 30% rewilding in Britain? How can we involve communities and young people? How do we remove the perceived risk from species reintroductions? How can we advocate for embracing change and dynamic ecosystems in such an entrenched system? We will also showcase some of the incredible rewilding projects already happening across Britain and how this is improving our knowledge of what a rewilded Britain may look like.

Rewilding is often seen as a transformative solution to the biodiversity crisis, yet it remains contentious, particularly when it comes to defining people's role in the process of rewilding. To explore this, we identified three ways people engage with nature in rewilding contexts: human–nature dichotomy, human–nature compromise, and human–nature mutualism. Through 51 interviews with stakeholders from two British rewilding projects, we examined how people interact with rewilding projects on the ground. The findings reveal that while these categories broadly capture people’s relationships with nature, individuals often hold multiple, sometimes conflicting perspectives. This complexity challenges traditional views of human roles in rewilding. Our research suggests that no single approach to human involvement is universally applicable in rewilding. Instead, embracing a diversity of human–nature interactions can foster more inclusive, adaptive practices that meet both human and ecological needs, supporting the growth of the global rewilding movement.

Restoring nature is now enshrined in many legal tools and obligations, with the EU Nature Restoration Regulation being the latest piece of legislation. Rewilding is a cost-effective approach to restoration and can help deliver these commitments. In this session we will explore and discuss the legal opportunities for rewilding, bringing in international and regional law, with a focus on the Nature Restoration Regulation. Until mid-2026, Member States are developing the Nature Restoration Plans, which will influence where resources and efforts will go in the following years. It is an important window of opportunity to mainstream rewilding, and Rewilding Europe is developing guidance for policy makers, demonstrating how rewilding can help achieve the ambitions of the law. Come and learn about the opportunities for you as members of civil society to engage and influence. What action will you take to put rewilding on the agenda?

Wild boar have been back in the UK for over 30 years – but their return remains incomplete and contested. Unique ecosystem engineers, wild boar were driven to extinction in Britain by the 1300s. Thanks to a mix of illegal releases and escapes, breeding populations now dwell once more in several parts of Scotland and the Forest of Dean (and, possibly, elsewhere in southwest England). Nevertheless, as a species, they are still functionally extinct here, and a range of environmental, social, and economic arguments have been deployed against the possibility of official reintroduction. This talk explores the current state of play for wild boar, and their future prospects – from the story of how people have learned to live with them in the Forest of Dean, to the spectre of African Swine Fever which could spell the end of their resurgence in the UK.

Traditional conservation has often overlooked the urban wildlife legacy of creative ecology. However, some of the UK’s most successful nature recovery have happened in unexpected places. This shift changed the definition of "derelict land" to include post-industrial nature. The work of Landlife and the National Wildflower Centre (now homed at the Eden Project) dates back to 1975. Over the years, colleagues like John Little, Peter Leeson, Polly Moseley and Fergus Garrett, have shared a parallel evolution of thought, from green roofs and estate management to new approaches to tree planting and in cultural narratives and in world class gardens. Creative conservation is about care, community, and land ethics. Aldo Leopold, a pioneer of ecological restoration, extolled a community land ethic in the 1930s. Today, we face a need for new commons—urban and rural—a journey worth sharing.

This interactive dialogue session explores the opportunities and challenges of transforming human-nature relationships through rewilding. The session begins with a presentation by the organizer, summarising a recent review of 89 European rewilding projects, their objectives, practices, and the roles assigned to people at rewilding sites. This will be followed by an interactive dialogue using a 'fishbowl conversation' format to address the following questions: 1) Which types of human-nature interactions can bring about transformative change in human-nature relationships? 2) Is rewilding, as practiced to date, able to realize this transformative power, and what needs to change? 3) Are there synergies and trade-offs with other rewilding objectives?

Scotland faces serious ecological and sociological challenges. It has one of the most depleted terrestrial landscapes, and concurrently some of the highest land ownership inequality, in the world. Rewilding, meanwhile, faces serious methodological challenges: how can landscape-scale projects be strategically planned, overcoming present parcellisation, and how can projects be safeguarded in the long-term, overcoming the whims owners may have at any one time? Other big unanswered questions predominate too, notably how non-human voices can be integrated into the structures we use to decide what to do, or what not to do, with the land and seas we inhabit. All of these questions — and more — will be explored in this interactive workshop. After a contextualising discussion, participants will devise their own solutions in small groups. They will receive context and solution ‘cards’, tapping into Scotland’s unique legislative provisions, financing schemes, and community land ownership culture. Solutions will then be pitched to other groups at the end of the workshop.

Our increasingly urbanized world is bad for our health, with congestion, higher crime rates, pollution, increased levels of inequality and social exclusion commonplace. We also know that lower exposure to Nature leads to reduced mental and physical health – but recent evidence suggest another, perhaps more primordial, connection. Emerging evidence suggests that reduced contact with diverse microbial communities in urban environments may contribute to immune dysfunction and related disease. Further studies are starting to suggest that rewilding degraded ecosystems could potentially restore at least some microbial diversity, possibly reversing these effects. This forward-looking activity aligns with the Health and Wellbeing theme and explores this hypothesis – it includes three parts: a presentation summarizing the link between microbial diversity loss and health, a discussion inviting examples of rewilding's effectiveness, and a group activity. Participants will brainstorm strategies to implement urban rewilding for health, addressing challenges like funding, policy integration, and measuring success.

What if rewilding centred around involving people and inviting them back onto the land? What if we saw the public as ecosystem engineers, essential for the health of wild and urban spaces? This workshop explores how people can actively participate in and benefit from rewilding, highlighting the concept that it’s not just about restoring ecosystems but also reconnecting people with nature. We’ll share examples of community-led efforts and discuss how people can be "rewilders" — agents of change through sustainable practices, conservation, and mindful land use. Key themes include the role of communities in rewilding projects, cultural and social connections to nature, practical ways to rewild everyday surroundings and the link between human well-being and healthy, wild landscapes. Participants will engage in discussions, share ideas, and explore how rewilding can be a holistic movement where both nature and people flourish.

Large herbivores have historically shaped vegetation by maintaining open areas and disturbing woody habitats. However, the large herbivores alive today represent only a fraction of those present before modern humans. The extinction of many species over the past 50,000 years, including megaherbivores (>1000 kg) before the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, likely altered vegetation structure and composition. In this session, Dr Elena Pearce will present her research into how the loss of megafauna affected Europe’s temperate forests. Using the latest vegetation reconstruction approach, she analysed pollen records from the Last Interglacial (129,000–116,000 BP), before widespread megafauna declines and human-driven landscape changes. Her findings reveal open vegetation and light woodland exceeded 50% cover, with marked spatial variation driven more by disturbance regimes—likely linked to megafauna—than climate. These results challenge the view of dense, closed-canopy temperate forests, highlighting the role of megafauna in maintaining diverse, open ecosystems and supporting Europe’s historical biodiversity.

In this talk, Benedict, founder and director of Restore, talks through how nature restoration is now scaling across the UK. He charts the journey the UK is going on, from being one of the most nature depleted countries on Earth, to rapidly restoring large areas of land – as nature restoration becomes more profitable than extractive or intensive farming. Sharing first hand insights from rewilding estates like Castle Howard, creating a new ‘plain’ in Wiltshire and reintroducing beavers to farms, Benedict gives a unique insight into the workings of a nature restoration business – and how inspirational farmers and landowners are coming together to scale nature’s recovery. As a pragmatist, Benedict explains how finance is a critical part of nature’s recovery – and diversification is the way farming will prosper into the future. And how, without restoring nature, all farms, and farming, will ultimately fail.

From rewilding policy, legislation, advocacy, media awareness and science Rewilding America Now is moving the needle in creating rewilding landscapes and education in the US. Never been done before and scientifically supported we reintroduce America's wild horses as a keystone species on public range lands and – in cooperation with federal agencies - create landscape-scale rewilding habitats. Our flagship project is a combination of private land and over 70k+ acres of public grazing lands connecting Yellowstone National Park and the Central Idaho Wilderness Area. Creating a 130+ mile wildlife corridor that effectively opens up wildlife migration routes from Yellowstone to the Idaho Rockies, saving tens of thousands of large herbivores and predators threatened by climate change and habitat fragmentation. Working with native communities and traditional ecological knowledge of farmers and rotational grazing practices, with wild horses enhancing more sustainable and profitable agricultural models, Rewilding America Now is doing it all. Meet The team at Rewilding America Now that is spearheading the movement to rewild in the United States.

Rewilding projects often struggle to secure adequate, long-term funding due to mismatched public schemes, sporadic philanthropy, and restrictive carbon markets. To address the challenge, CreditNature partnered with the Scottish Government to unlock investment in functional and dynamic ecosystems. This session looks at Drumadoon, a flagship landscape on the Isle of Arran, who are transforming coastal farmland into a mosaic with temperate rainforest, wetlands and natural grazing at the heart. Drumadoon is utilising a framework of metrics, ‘NARIA’, that translates recovering natural processes into units. These have been deployed to baseline, plan and monitor their efforts and, importantly, attract investment. Attendees will hear about the step-by-step process, from early concepts to engaging corporates, for actionable insights on how to develop investment-ready projects. We’ll share a pragmatic vision for a new high-integrity nature market to bridge to funding gap and scale rewilding.

This workshop explores the unique challenges and opportunities of rewilding in the Global South, where livelihoods often depend directly on natural resources, and governance systems may be less formalized. Drawing on a pilot Payment for Ecosystem Services project in Eastern Rwanda by The Lifescape Project and Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Association, we’ll examine how finance from global nature markets can restore ecosystems while improving local land access and nature-based revenue opportunities. Through interactive discussions, we’ll address key questions, including: 1. How can rewilding principles be applied to diverse Global South contexts, particularly in relation to understanding neo-colonial dynamics and risks? 2. How can nature finance deliver equitable benefits and avoid reinforcing power and wealth imbalances? 3. How can rewilding efforts be designed to be genuinely participatory, sensitive to local cultures, and improve livelihoods?

A lecture about the problems and challenges with rewilding with species like Bison, Elk, Wild Boar etc, and why over coming those is essential to be able to create landscape scale rewilding. Followed by a discussion and Q and A. We need to scale up rewilding in the UK and large herbivores are a key element in what is needed. There are huge legal, policy and practical challenges to doing this. It will cover the importance of these projects, the barriers, the opportunities and the need for coordinated pressure to change policy and inspire action. 

Ella will lead a panel discussion exploring how cutting-edge advancements in AI technology can significantly accelerate and enhance global rewilding efforts. We will focus on AI-driven data analysis as a transformative tool for improving monitoring, forecasting, and decision-making in rewilding and restoration projects. The panel will feature leading experts from diverse fields, such as bioacoustics for species detection, remote sensing, and machine learning-based pattern recognition, all of whom are utilising AI in innovative ways to drive impactful environmental work. Each panellist will share real-world applications of AI in their projects, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges that come with harnessing these technologies. As facilitators, Ecosulis will contribute our own experiences in integrating AI into nature recovery projects, offering insights into ongoing initiatives and sharing our ambitions for leveraging AI further to scale rewilding efforts. 

From its iconic industrial heritage, Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s Lower Ouseburn Valley has developed a dynamic and rich parallel history of urban nature in the heart of the city.  Today, Ouseburn is a vibrant cultural landscape, framed by the architecture of its past, layered with a diverse range of dynamic habitats where inner-city Kestrels soar, Kingfishers complement colourful art and the famous Ouseburn Mute Swans raise their families. The Wild Ouseburn project explores, documents and celebrates the species present within the valley, to help inform future management of Ouseburn’s wild spaces, and provide an inspiring platform for our local community to engage with the urban wilds that surround us. Join Wild Intrigue CIC Co-Director, Cain Scrimgeour, to hear about the successes, challenges and wildlife discovered in the first year of the project.

The growth, interest and need for rewilding has arguably, never been greater. The development of IUCN Guidelines was initiated to support effective implementation of rewilding at scale. We've sought expert opinion from scientists and practitioners in our process, to ensure global relevance and applicability. The result will be presented at Abu Dhabi in October 2025. This is workshop 6 of 7 workshops. Previous sessions have included (the one in Australia) and WILD12 as well as online sessions. 

Bev will set out Forestry England’s ambitions to push nature recovery at pace and scale, restoring natural processes to more than 8000 ha of the nation’s forests and recovering missing species. Uniquely placed as the country’s largest land manager, Forestry England’s Forest Wilding Programme builds on the government’s 25 year Environment Plan goals and drives forward their Growing the Future and Biodiversity Plan. This is a journey of innovation – led by nature and supported through reinstating, accelerating and replicating natural processes and species reintroduction. The vision is holistic: fully-functioning forest ecosystems, where sustainable timber production sits hand-in-hand with the most valuable places for wildlife to thrive and expand in England, and where there is inherent resilience to emerging threats such as disease and climate change. These ambitions cannot be met alone, with partnerships key to successful delivery in the nation’s forests and beyond.

As private owners rewild land and markets for biodiversity and ecosystem services are introduced, novel (and repurposed old) legal mechanisms are becoming increasingly important to ensure long-term biodiversity benefits. This presentation will: 1. Consider the increasing need to secure rewilded land for the long term and how legal mechanisms are helping/hindering to achieve this; 2. Provide case studies of how legal mechanisms are being used with reference to specific examples from Italy, Portugal and the UK; 3. Consider how European jurisdictions can learn from each other to address legal barriers and ensure that private land can be protected for rewilding for future generations; and 4. Introduce innovative legal thinking able to impact how landowners and practitioners can work together to secure land for rewilding: a. The case of Lifescape as a responsible body b. The opportunities that the NRL offers to secure land for rewilding.

Three hundred years ago Chat Moss was impenetrable wilderness, a lowland raised bog of over 36 square kilometres, situated between Liverpool and Manchester at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution. From historical maps, books and biological recordings it is possible to trace the origins of the ecosystem back to the late Holocene and chart the impact of the past 200 years of human activity, resulting in complete habitat destruction and loss of most wetland flora and fauna. Peatland restoration has been undertaken on local nature reserves since the 1980s. More resources and land have been directed at peatland restoration in recent years, driven by the imperative to preserve carbon stored in the peat and resume carbon sequestration. This process has involved multiple translocations of plant species, some now nationally scarce. The reintroduction of the large heath butterfly in 2020 was one of the major milestones in the project.

The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project (SSGEP) launched in 2017 has successfully increased the population of golden eagles from 6 to around 50 birds; more than the region has seen in over 300 years. In just 6 years, 12 new territories have established and first signs of breeding activity recorded. Through established translocation protocols collecting single chicks from nests of twins alongside the novel subadult translocation methodology the southern Scottish Population is thriving. Stakeholder and community engagement has played a vital role is the success of the project. Our next goal is to support the return of golden eagles to Northern England.

A roundtable session to discuss the detail of the IUCN Rewilding Guidelines under development. The session leaders will introduce the previous work of the RTG including developing a unifying global definition of rewilding and a set of ten guiding principles, as outlined in Carver et al. (2021). The interactive element of the roundtable will explore a number of key rewilding topics and questions, including: differences and commonalities between rewilding and ecological restoration, the role of rewilding in carbon cycles and mitigating climate change effects, reducing biodiversity loss and ‘bending the curve’, reinstating species and trophic interactions. The roundtable will also consider issues of intrinsic value of wild nature and the need for a paradigm shift in human relationships with nature and natural processes. The participants will have the opportunity to participate as a standing panel of experts and continue to input into the guidelines process.

Australia is home to around 7-10% of the world’s biodiversity, but over 2,000 native animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, and 17 ecosystems are showing signs of collapse. Many of these species are found nowhere else on Earth. By managing threats, undertaking research, and reintroducing species into areas where they once thrived, Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) is restoring landscapes and securing a future for Australia’s unique biodiversity. At Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary, on Badimia country in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, AWC is leading one of the most ambitious rewilding projects in the nation’s history. Lizzy Crotty will detail how AWC has established a 19,368 acre feral predator-free area dedicated to giving native wildlife a fighting chance. This safe haven, created to combat the devastating impacts of invasive predators like cats and foxes, has facilitated the return of 10 regionally extinct mammal species, including the Greater Bilby, Numbat, and Chuditch (Western Quoll). This talk will explore the critical role of feral-free sanctuaries in halting extinctions in Australia, the challenges of large-scale rewilding, and the partnerships with First Nations communities that drive this success.

The England Species Reintroduction Taskforce (ESRT) is an expert advisory panel advising Government, the conservation sector and the public to enable more and better conservation translocations. We are two years old and comprise multi-disciplinary expertise from academia, conservation NGOs and practical land managers. Conservation translocations in England are mostly unregulated, lacking strategic prioritisation and are not often seen in the broader context of their benefits to ecosystem function and nature’s recovery. Whilst the focus of ESRT is on England, we are well integrated with similar work in the other countries of the UK and have global representation on our panel through conservation translocations expertise in Oceania.

How do we build a wilder future for Europe with more space for natural processes like forest regeneration, free flowing rivers, herbivory and carnivory to impact ecosystems, where people and nature can thrive? In Rewilding Europe, we focus on maximizing our impact by demonstrating rewilding across 13 countries and catalyzing further action at landscape scale throughout Europe. By integrating ecological restoration, new nature-based economies and benefits for people and innovative finance mechanisms, rewilding models offer scalable and replicable solutions that sustain ecological impact while incentivizing large-scale adoption. This session will present a set of rewilding models implemented on the ground with rewilding practitioners across a wealth of landscapes. From innovative approaches to coexistence, such as wildlife-smart communities in Central Apennine in Italy, to rewilding hunting concessions in the Velebit Mountains of Croatia, or the recovery of natural grazing dynamics through the comeback of large herbivores in the Iberian Highlands and Greater Coa Valley in Spain and Portugal, we will showcase the success of these models in restoring wilder nature and delivering long-term benefits for ecosystems and local communities. 

Glow-worms are a spectacular but localised insect in Britain, with recent evidence of a decline in numbers. As a species that have inspired culture and stories for millennia, restoring them to former and new sites may not only help recover populations but enhance local connections to nature spaces. Over the last five years, there have therefore been efforts to investigate the feasibility of rearing this species in captivity, release into suitably restored former or newly created site and use the species as a 'cultural keystone species' that can act as the spark to win over communities and individuals for local-level nature restoration that can benefit other species in turn. Pete will speak on his experience working with the species, including first-hand accounts of observing their fascinating behaviour and the challenges of captive breeding, and how they can be champions of wilding at the local scale.

Denmark is establishing 20 Nature National Parks based on rewilding principles to restore ecosystems and enhance biodiversity. This talk will cover the planning, implementation, and key findings from Marianne's industrial PhD, which supports ecological restoration with large herbivores in rewilding sites. Highlights include:

• A framework for identifying optimal rewilding locations.

• Research on expected effects, using vegetation surveys and 20 years of cattle and horse grazing data.

• Analysis of large herbivore movement patterns and habitat preferences from GPS tracking at eleven sites.

Gareth will lead a presentation and workshop exploring novel approaches to re-wilding thinking adopted by the Wild Ennerdale Partnership. The presentation will cover the concept of future natural ecology, the importance of recognizing “ghosts” in the landscape, and the challenges these approaches present. Gareth will discuss the benefits of being opportunistic and process-led in natural management, and the struggles of most NVC habitats, which often lack dynamism due to being dominated by one or two processes. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the shared concepts, their usefulness, and other re-wilding ideas that can help managers let nature become wilder richer and more colourful.

Our workshop will introduce an idea we are calling re-traditioning. Historically, regular social events bound to the farming calendar year helped to build social cohesion in communities in our rural communities. Over time as the reduction in quantity and diversity of rural employment has led to a loss of these traditional events with a subsequent erosion of social cohesion. Social events are now often organised by external providers like NGOs and done with communities, not by communities and once funding or commitment runs out the event is lost. The rise of rewilding is increasing nature-based employment and local interest in wildlife, providing a new way to focus communities and bring people together. Can we use this new energy to reinvent the art of the locally led community event which bring people together, rebuilds pride in place and is sustained by the enthusiasm of local people not by the resources of an external organisation? This is the process of re-traditioning. Our workshop will explain and explore this new idea and work with participants to map out the essential ingredients of re-traditioning and how it might be done in their projects or sites. It will be of particular interest to those working with communities, empowering them to have more influence over changes to their local landscape.

This workshop will focus on approaches to assessing the success of rewilding projects from a biodiversity perspective, whether specific targets or open-ended. To ensure funding, to promote rewilding elsewhere and for concrete evidence to engage wider audiences, robust monitoring data is critical. This requires the use of scientifically sound and repeatable protocols on-site, with relevant counterfactuals. Drawing on UK and European examples, the workshop will cover the pros and cons of (i) bespoke surveys using citizen science, or professionals, (ii) making use of existing monitoring data, and (iii) emerging technologies including passive acoustic monitoring. Talks on the strengths and weaknesses of approaches, scientific, logistical, and dependencies (volunteer capacity, broader data availability and taxa) will be followed by a Q&A. We will invite contributions of real-world monitoring targets (what do we need to know?) and suggestions for monitoring approaches (what works best?). The output will be a guidance document for monitoring.

Bermuda is an archipelago of over 100 islets that faces significant threats to its biodiversity due to human activity and environmental changes. Among these islands, Nonsuch Island stands out as a cornerstone for conservation efforts, hosting rare and threatened species and habitats. It also represents one of the earliest examples of ecological restoration, with more than 60 years of ongoing efforts. This pioneering project aims to restore a portion of Bermuda’s ecosystem to its pre-colonial state, focusing on the removal of invasive species, the replanting of native and endemic flora, and the reintroduction of native and endemic fauna. Notable successes include the recovery of the Greater Bermuda snail (Poecilozonites bermudensis) and the expanding population of the Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow), or Cahow, a species once thought extinct. These milestones offer an opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned from decades of ecological restoration on Nonsuch Island. This presentation will explore the successes and challenges encountered, the technologies and methods employed, and the implications for future conservation strategies in Bermuda and beyond.

Natural Apptitude is the UK’s leading producer of data collection software for the ecology and conservation sectors. Our citizen science orientated projects include the Big Butterfly Count, Bugs Matter, Mammal Mapper and INNS Mapper. Coreo, our data collection platform, supports hundreds of ecological consultancies, NGOs, Landscape Recovery projects and rewilding organisations with species and habitat surveys including the provision of the official UKHab and BNG Platform. Drop by our stand on Saturday to say hello and discover more. 

Britain is among the most ecologically depleted and unequally owned countries, with 50% of England owned by less than 1% of the population. Wild Card, a grassroots movement, aims to change this by urging major landowners like the Church of England, royal estates, and Oxbridge colleges to rewild their lands in response to the climate crisis. It also advocates for land reforms to democratize ownership and expand rewilding opportunities.

Through campaigns like Rewild the Church, supported by figures like Michael Gove, Stephen Fry, and Caroline Lucas, Wild Card has mobilized over 275,000 people with protests, talks, and events. Joel Scott-Halkes exposes the vast holdings of Britain’s powerful landowners, highlights the state of their lands, and proposes three bold yet practical reforms to make Britain wilder and fairer.