At the beginning of November, the second meeting of the Communication team of the various European rewilding areas, for which Rewilding Europe is responsible, took place. One of the goals of this team is to spread this conservation approach, thereby generating pride and public support for the amplification of rewilding efforts across Europe. After a first meeting in the Netherlands, even before the pandemic, the second meeting was held in Portugal, organized by Rewilding Portugal, and served to create bridges, strengthen ties and work on joint strategies for the future.

The symposium, which helped promote rewilding in both a European and Portuguese context, featured a range of presentations from rewilding thought leaders. It has so far attracted over 2000 online views.

After this summer’s environmental catastrophe in Serra da Estrela, in which at least 25 thousand hectares burned in successive fires over several weeks, it is essential to bring together all the interested parties in the territory and at the national level to prepare a serious and realistic proposal to the environmental recovery of the Serra da Estrela Natural Park. In this sense, Rewilding Portugal sent a proposal for urgent ecological restoration measures to several key actors in the territory and with responsibilities in this matter.

In July of this year, the regenerative laboratories that are part of the LIFE ENPLC project, in which Rewilding Portugal is a partner, visited two of the rewilding areas that our organization manages along the Greater Côa Valley: Vale Carapito (Sabugal) and Paul de Toirões (Almeida).

A student of the University of Porto, Inês Silva, who were attending her Master’s in Economics and Environmental Management, developed her master’s dissertation throughout the 2021/2022 academic year in partnership with Rewilding Portugal, exploring the potential of the Iberian ibex in landscape management.

In 2023, artistic expression is back in the Greater Côa Valley and art returns to the wild in this region. The “CÔA – Corridor of Arts” festival will have its first edition taking place in the summer of 2023, in the Greater Côa Valley. A festival that seeks to connect artists with communities in this natural environment, in order to co-create works of art that have integrated the landscape itself, using natural materials and respecting its natural decay.

Even in the rewilding approach, where a lot of the nature recovery processes take place largely on their own after some initial management interventions, it is important to monitor and measure the impact of the work carried out, in the medium- and long-term. In a process that requires space and time to be effective, it is essential to showcase results and changes of rewilding, an approach which will play a decisive role in the ecosystems of the future.

The duo of photographers Blue Nomads, composed by the couple Susana Silvestre and Ricardo Ferreira, spent two weeks carrying out a photographic mission in the Greater Côa Valley, with the goal of capturing through their lenses the work carried out by Rewilding Portugal, as well as all the natural heritage of the surrounding region. In their own words, let’s travel through this article with this incredible duo to learn more about their experience.

Aukje van Gerven is responsible for organising and the co-creator and of Rewilding Europe’s rewilding tourism trainings. Here, she talks about the Greater Côa Valley, the initiatives developed so far and the potential of this territory.

Rewiding Portugal and the Municipality of Sabugal came together to carry out the second edition of the nature photography contest “Rewilding Photo Contest”, an edition that brought many news and more attractive monetary prizes. Comunidade Cultura e Arte was also once again a communication partner for this photo contest and the winners were announced today.