Rewilding Europe Capital was recently launched at the WILD10 congress in Salamanca, Spain, and has completed its first two loans to financially support businesses in Velebit (Croatia) and Portugal.

The Central Apennines (Italy) was announced as the sixth area within Rewilding Europe today during WILD 10, the World Wilderness Congress in Salamanca, Spain (4–10 October). The Central Apennines, known as “the Wild Heart of Italy” is a perfect example of a rewilding area that is very close to a big city. This the newest of our rewilding areas is only an hour and a half’s drive from Rome.

One of the programme goals of Rewilding Europe is “by 2020, rewild 1 million ha (10,000 km²) across 10 places in Europe covering different regions and biomes, including areas of both land and sea”. The rewilding concept was introduced at the “EC Presidency Conference on Wilderness and Large Natural Habitat Areas” in May 2009, and the participants were invited to submit nominations for potential model areas.