Rewilding explains: How we bring ecosys­tems back into balance

Rewilding: Restoring ecosystems, rethinking our impact

Across the globe, rewilding is quietly reshaping how we approach conservation. In Europe, bison graze again in forest clearings. In the Iberá Wetlands of Argentina, the jaguar has returned after a 70-year absence. In Kenya, local communities are reopening wildlife corridors once cut off by fences and farmland.

But what exactly is rewilding?

At its core, rewilding is about giving ecosystems the space and conditions they need to function naturally. This might mean reintroducing native species, allowing rivers to flow freely again, or gradually removing human infrastructure from fragile landscapes. It’s a long-term effort with the goal of reestablishing the dynamic interactions between species and their environments which have often been disrupted by centuries of agriculture, urban expansion, and resource extraction.

The origins of Rewilding

The concept of rewilding was first articulated in the 1990s in North America, when conservationists proposed reconnecting fragmented habitats and reintroducing keystone species like wolves and cougars to large, protected areas. This approach was based on the understanding that protecting isolated pockets of wilderness was insufficient without restoring the ecological processes that sustain biodiversity.

One seminal example was the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995. The presence of wolves altered prey populations and behaviour, which in turn allowed overgrazed vegetation to recover and stabilised riverbanks—demonstrating how apex predators can shape entire ecosystems.

Since then, the idea has expanded beyond predator reintroduction or large wilderness areas. Today, rewilding encompasses a variety of landscapes, including abandoned agricultural land, urban fringes, wetlands, and coastal regions. The approach adapts to the local ecological and social context, integrating habitat restoration with community involvement.

Global projects: Rewilding in practice

There are countless impactful initiatives around the globe — here are just a few examples: Rewilding Europe leads large-scale restoration projects across the continent. In Portugal’s Côa Valley, abandoned olive groves form a patchwork of restored landscapes where wild horses, Iberian wolves, and vultures have returned. Romania’s Southern Carpathians have reintroduced European bison, the continent’s largest such effort.

In Scotland, Trees for Life restores native Caledonian pine forests through planting, deer management, and natural regeneration, shifting valleys back toward their pre-agricultural state.

Argentina’s Iberá Wetlands showcase jaguar reintroduction after a 70-year absence, alongside giant anteaters, pampas deer, and green-winged macaws. The project supports both wildlife recovery and community-run eco-tourism.

Kenya’s community conservancies illustrate a model where wildlife corridors are restored to enable the movement of elephants and large carnivores. These efforts also prioritise coexistence with local populations, who benefit from new opportunities in land stewardship and eco-tourism, fostering a landscape where people and wildlife coexist.

Rewilding and Natucate: Where we connect

Rewilding isn’t just about wildlife or untouched places, it’s about systems. Landscapes that support diverse life, including human communities living alongside nature.

Natucate partners with initiatives that embody this vision. In Botswana’s Okavango Delta and South Africa’s Greater Kruger, we support projects monitoring and protecting wildlife across restored habitats. These focus on predator tracking, elephant behaviour, and bushveld regeneration, relying on long-term research, local knowledge, and volunteer support.

In Portugal, we partner with a Wolf Conservation Project tackling human-wildlife conflict by educating the public and reshaping the reputation of the wolf from threat to keystone. Volunteers also help restore sprawling hillsides by removing invasive eucalyptus trees and planting native species to reduce fire risk, reviving landscapes shaped before agriculture and livestock altered them.

In Brazil, our partners manage a Forest Conservation Program supporting rewilding by restoring degraded Atlantic Forest landscapes once cleared for agriculture. Volunteers help plant native trees and monitor the returning biodiversity, working to rebuild a natural environment where native species can thrive and ecosystems regain their natural balance.

Rewilding as a long-term commitment

Rewilding isn’t a quick fix. Restoring ecosystems takes decades: forests regenerate gradually, and wildlife populations need time to re-establish and stabilise. Addressing human-wildlife conflict also demands careful, locally informed management, particularly in regions where communities rely on the land for their livelihoods.

At the same time, rewilding can open up new economic pathways. From habitat monitoring to land restoration and nature-based tourism, many projects create roles that support both ecological recovery and local income, without depending on intensive land use, extraction or large-scale development.

Different landscapes, one Rewilding goal

Rewilding takes many forms—restoring ancient woodlands in Wales, coastal kelp beds in Tasmania, vulture nesting sites in Bulgaria, or removing dams from salmon streams in the Pacific Northwest.

The goal remains the same: to restore natural processes and allow ecosystems to function with as little interference as possible.

In a time of accelerating ecological loss, rewilding offers more than resistance; it offers the possibility of renewal. It challenges us to see landscapes not as fixed or controlled, but as dynamic systems capable of recovering complexity, richness, and balance when given the space and time to heal.