Finnish NGO Snowchange is working to rewild a growing number of peatlands and forests. Four sites within Snowchange’s burgeoning Landscape Rewilding Programme have just joined the European Rewilding Network, amplifying the benefits for nature, climate, and local indigenous communities.

Across Finland a growing number of wetlands, rivers and forests are now undergoing restoration. With rewilding efforts stepped up in 2019, loans from Rewilding Europe Capital are playing a central role. 

A six-month study by two University of Lille students reveals the huge transformative potential of the site bought with a loan from Rewilding Europe Capital.

Rewilding Europe’s innovative enterprise funding facility is showcased in a new publication on how conservation organisations and their partners can mobilise private investment.

A loan from Rewilding Europe Capital (REC) enabled Finland-based Snowchange Cooperative to purchase the 110-hectare Linnunsuo wetland area in April. Situated in Finnish North Karelia, the wetland was bought from Vapo, the leading developer of bioenergy in Finland and the world’s leading peat industry business, after a year of negotiation. This groundbreaking loan is the first provided by REC to a member of the European Rewilding Network (ERN).

Following the successful seminar held in mid October in Finland, now comes the process of trying to develop successful conservation enterprises in our rewilding areas. At the seminar, we first challenged ourselves to consider what each of us understood by the term “conservation”. Was this a preservationist approach, where we sought to protect what is already there? Or a more dynamic approach where we seek to stimulate existing ecosystems and natural processes – and indeed create new ones?

From 9 to 14 October, Rewilding Europe organized a Training Seminar on Wildlife Watching and Conservation Enterprise Development in Finland. Representatives of the five rewilding projects from various European countries travelled all the way up to Finland to learn from first-hand experience in the Kuhmo region, which is famous for its bear-watching facilities.