Rewilder Weekly #10
Welcome to the latest edition of the Rewilder Weekly! Before we get into this week's stories, two quick things: 1) Last week (11 June) was International Lynx Day - check out stories and images and videos shared on the occasion. 2) A quick shout-out to all of YOU! Thanks to you, the Rewilder Weekly has already passed the 3'000 subscriber mark! And now let's get to this week's eight selected rewilding stories.
Let's rewild!
👉 As a reminder: If you come across stories you'd like to see featured in an upcoming edition, send them to me and I'll gladly do what I can.
1) Fantastic news: The EU Nature Restoration Law is adopted!
This was touch and go. The proposed law went from looking solid to teetering on the edge of the cliff - it really did look bad these last two months with uncertainty and/or opposition from too many EU member states. So glad that, at this last moment, they came together and voted YES!
What will this actually mean? In his post, Frans Schepers spells it out: "To reach the new, overall legally binding EU targets, member states must now restore at least 30% of habitats covered by the new law (from forests, grasslands and wetlands to rivers, lakes and coral beds) from a poor to a good condition by 2030, increasing to 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050. Also, 25,000 km of rivers need to become free-flowing, we need to rewild our forests, and restore wetlands and pollinators - just a few key points from the new regulation."
2) The Global Rewilding Alliance' Impact Report 2024
Pardon me, but this wonderful report by the Global Rewilding Alliance was published just before I started the Rewilder Weekly newsletter, but hey - it's never too late to highlight amazing work! As Karl Wagner and Magnus Sylven say in the opening paragraphs, "What unites people and organizations of the rewilding movement is the understanding that our planet needs naturalness and wild animals to return for humanity to survive and prosper. And both of these on a large scale. What ties us ‘rewilders’ together is a powerful vision of such a world and the belief that it can be achieved much faster than one might think. Rewilding projects all over the world prove that it can be done, in fact that it is already happening now on every continent."
If you're up for a massive dose of rewilding joy, you can't do better than this 50-page report that spans the globe with stories from: Chile, India, Australia, United States, Europe, Argentina, Mozambique and more (I'm sure I missed a few). This report is definitely worth your time, you'll learn a great deal and, yes, it's most definitely one heck of a large dose of rewilding hope!
👉 Go here for GRA Impact Report 2024
3) The first Przewalksi's horses have returned to Kazakhstan
Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative reports the release of seven Przewalski's horses as part of a wider initiative to restore fully functioning steppe grassland ecosystems. They had gone regionally extinct by the mid-19th century. This release was made possible by a strong conservation coalition.
Stephanie Ward from the Frankfurt Zoological Society / Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt said, “We have long dreamed of the day that Przewalski’s horses would join the Saiga antelope and Kulan in the great steppe wilderness that is central Kazakhstan. Thanks to a unique partnership of zoos, NGOs and governments, we are finally seeing this species, so important as an ecosystem engineer, return to its historic range.”
👉 Go here for post and press release
4) A few personal thoughts ... from a bison!
A few thoughts from a European bison, about the history and challenges of his species from the time of cave wall paintings to wartime decimation, and from near extinction to returning to strength and numbers today.
Here his thoughts on our species and zoos, "I have to hand it to you, much as you are a colossal pain in the posterior for just about all of nature (of which, much as you often forget, you are a part of), you saved us! Turns out that exactly 48 of my kind were left over in that horrible thing you call zoo. Honestly now, what are you doing with all those animals in all of those cages? Mind you, I shouldn't complain because that brought, after all, a new beginning for us."
👉 Go here for the bison's post
5) Student campaigns for rewilding plot on campus
Chela Rossi is a student at University of the West of England (and the students' union's sustainability officer). With passion, joy and clearly sustained determination she's been campaigning for the university to rewild a 9.5 hectare site that has been set aside for 'development'. She surveyed students and staff and found out that 94% would want a rewilding site on campus.
Respondents said that they would value and use the space that it would positively contribute towards mental health and wellbeing, in addition to student experience, student learning and building nature connectedness. Chela ends her article by saying, "So, UWE Bristol, the people want it, the planet needs it! What are you waiting for? Reserve the 9.5 hectare site on Frenchay campus for wildlife, wellbeing and research!!"
👉 Go here for post and article
6) Do not drink civet coffee
Civets are small mammals of the feliformia suborder and therein of the viverridae family that also includes the genet, oyan and the awesome bearcat, the binturong. Civets are at home in Africa and in Asia and are rarely seen due to their reclusive nocturnal nature. These omnivores are key to healthy biodiversity.
Civet coffee is hailed as the supposedly rarest and most expensive coffee. Since the early 2000's the 'civet coffee' trade has exploded. If you wonder what civets have to do with coffee, well, they eat the coffee fruit, which is then collected from their poo ... read about the insane animal abuse and learn what YOU can do to help stop the civet coffee business for ever.
👉 Go here for post and article
7) Everything little effort counts: Build your mini-pond
The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) says it on their page: "Nature is in crisis. Together we can save it." There you have it - big or small - we can all do our bit to lend a hand and make things better for flora and fauna. In this recent post, they offer a simple instruction to create a mini-pond.
So, if you've built that tiny pond - what can you expect? Well, depending on how well you've conceived it and where you are, you can expect dragonflies and frogs and newts, and a various smaller insects making your pond their home. And it won't take long for birds (and maybe even bats) to come by for a snack. And make sure critters that have fallen in, can get out again (hedgehogs!)
👉 Go here for the easy step-by-step guide
8) Learn about the fascinating 'Weald to Waves' project
Oliver Bolton highlights the Weald to Waves project and an excellent video that tells the wonderful story so far. It essentially started with Sussex farmer James Baird reading Isabella Tree's Wilding - then approaching her and Charlie Burrell at Knepp Wilding - it marked the beginning of the massive project that aims to create a 100-mile nature recovery corridor across Sussex.
As Libby Drew, Director of the Knepp Wildland Foundation says in the video, "We hope for Weald to Waves to become a toolkit that people can pick up and adopt and adapt. They can join their communities together and they can join their landscapes together. If we can do it here, in one of the most heavily industrialized, farmed and populated parts of the country, then I have high hopes that it will be replicated elsewhere."
And here's this week's art by Chilean science illustrator and painter Mauricio Alvarez (mauricio_alvarez_art on Instagram): This time an artistic rendering of nature in Mauricio's home on Chiloé Island in Chile.
And that's it for this edition! For more rewilding insights and stories from around the globe, use the #rewilding hashtag and follow people, organizations and groups that are as passionate about rewilding as you are.
Have a good week!
Cheers,
D