What we do
By bringing together European experts from the environmental sciences, social sciences and economics, the wildE project has developed climate-smart rewilding, a holistic approach to rewilding that considers climatic, economic and societal challenges and demonstrates that ecological restoration is a financially viable nature-based solution which benefits both public and private stakeholders.
Funded by Horizon Europe, the wildE project uses detailed surveys and models to evaluate the potential impact of European rewilding on carbon and biodiversity, today and in a warmer future.
Where we do it
We are carrying out a broad range of Pan-European studies as well as in-depth research at eight case study sites gathering first-hand information on rewilding across a mixture of urban, peri-urban and rural landscapes. This has given us an understanding of how rewilding can be climate-smart throughout Europe.
Project Overview
Human interference in natural ecosystems has caused wide-spread ecological destruction. To combat climate change and biodiversity loss, we need to restore significant areas of the ecosystems that we have destroyed.
To do so, we must step back and let nature take control.
Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration centred around processes that help ecosystems to regulate themselves, whilst reducing human control and pressures.
Climate-smart rewilding is designed to overcome barriers to rewilding by considering climatic, economic and societal challenges in order for ecological restoration to become a financially viable nature-based solution. By developing climate-smart rewilding, our vision is for a future where rewilded landscapes are valued and can support us in achieving our climate, land-use, economic and societal goals
The climate-smart rewilding framework
Climate-smart rewilding addresses nature restoration by systematically considering the diverse interactions between biodiversity, climate change, socio-economic aspects and human well-being. This integral perspective helps deliver more benefits for nature and people than single-goal ecological restoration. By placing biodiversity at its core, the climate-smart rewilding framework emphasises that rewilding outcomes for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and human well-being are mediated through biodiversity responses. Climate-smart rewilding views climate change and socio-economic aspects as both motivating forces and resulting consequences mediated through changes in ecosystem functioning. This integrated perspective highlights the capacity of rewilding to jointly advance biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and human well-being. It underscores the necessity of incorporating socio-economic considerations into rewilding planning, implementation, and management. For climate-smart rewilding to be effectively implemented and garner sustained support from local communities, stakeholders, conservation practitioners, and policymakers, it must explicitly account for the socio-economic implications of rewilding for human well-being. These implications can be systematically evaluated by considering the benefits, risks, and opportunity costs associated with biodiversity restoration and the resulting increase in human-nature interactions. A comprehensive rewilding approach should foster ecological integrity, mitigate the impacts of climate change on both ecosystems and society, and integrate socio-economic dimensions to maximise long-term outcomes.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2026.101704
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