23 Retuertas horses, coming from the Doñana biological station in southern Spain, were released in the Campanarios de Azaba biological reserve on October 7. The release was possible thanks to Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre in Spain, land owner of the reserve, with support from Rewilding Europe.
The period from July to October is a risky one in Western Iberia every year. You cannot imagine how high the temperatures can get and how scarce the rains most often are. This means a great risk of fire. Even if fire is a natural phenomenon here and has always been, the frequency has increased to very high and dangerous levels that are not natural. Not because of the climate, but rather because of humans and their habits.
Large-scale land use agreements in Portugal have proved to be very difficult to achieve, as the average size of rural properties is well under two hectares. Often, land is distributed among several owners, making the task of contacting them very difficult and time-consuming. In addition, some studies state that there are two million hectares of land in Portugal where landowners are not identified.
The first edition of the Erasmus Intensive Programme “European Wilderness Entrepreneurship” was a great success for the Western Iberia rewilding area. During this two week event a consortium of thirty students and fifteen lecturers/researchers from universities in Bulgaria, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands looked at the role of entrepreneurship to promote the future wilderness of Western Iberia.
After a winter that will be remembered as the wettest in Spain for the past 51 years – according to rainfall data recorded by the Spanish Meteorological Agency AEMET – spring has broken into Western Iberia. These heavy rains have managed to increase water reserves compared to the same dates last year.
Two Returta foals were born in Western Iberia. The birth of these two foals is a great demonstration of their adaptation to the dehesa they live in.
Traditionally, nature conservationists are not trained in business development and entrepreneurship. It is often assumed that nature conservation related professions are guided by ecological and sustainable principles which, therefore, define the educational design of nature conservation curricula. However, the uncertain financial contexts for nature conservation and persistent competing claims by diverse stakeholders concerned, require alternative professional competences to address current conservation challenges.
Last week Juan José Negro, director of the Doñana Biological Station visited the Western Iberia rewilding area. Together with researchers Juan Calderon and Fernando Ibáñez from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) they spent time at the Biological Reserve Campanarios de Azaba.
Rewilding Europe is very excited to announce that Liberty Wildlife Fund, a private foundation in The Netherlands, has decided to support Rewilding Europe for a period of three years.
An episode of the Dutch TV programme “Kanjers Van Goud” (Heroes of Gold) that was filmed in our Western Iberia rewilding area, is now available for watching online.