In the midst of talk about conservation and sustainability, many people are working hard to provide opportunities and spaces for nature to grow and thrive in its wild and wonderful ways.
Embracing solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges, the concept of rewilding is all about giving space back to nature and helping the planet to heal.
World Rewilding Day is a day set aside to remind all humans that they have the power to be collaborative healers and restorers of nature through the actions they take, whether large or small!
How to Celebrate World Rewilding Day
Bring the world back into the wild and have a hand in restoring nature through some activities on World Rewilding Day and all throughout the year:
Commit to Helping Nature Heal
One of the most important activities that anyone can do in celebration of World Rewilding Day is to consider ways they can be a healing agent for nature.
This means giving space back to the wild and encouraging more wilderness to grow.
Whether this includes a small plot of land that is personally owned or advocating for rewilding of larger public spaces, this event is a time to dream about – and then implement plans toward – bringing nature back to its previous self.
Connect with Other Rewilders
An important aspect of World Rewilding Day is the opportunity it provides to foster relationships and bring together those who are interested in rewilding.
This might include individuals who want to start a rewilding group in their community or those who work as advocates for the rewilding of public lands.
In honor of this day, take some time to connect with other rewilders, brainstorming ideas and committing to work together to provide nature the space it needs to heal.
Join the Global Rewilding Alliance
One way to get involved with this event is by hopping on the website for the Global Rewildling Alliance and learning more about its collaboration with the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Get more information and get connected with others who are also interested in mainstreaming rewilding in the areas of science, policy, and practice in celebration of World Rewilding Day!
History of World Rewilding Day
World Rewilding Day is a fairly recent event that got its start in 2021. The event was founded by the Global Rewilding Alliance (GRA) to improve public awareness about the need for nature conservation and the restoration of wild spaces.
This event is set to coincide with what is typically the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, and the autumnal equinox in the southern hemisphere.
World Rewilidng Day comes at a great time for people all over to consider this seasonal change as a motivator to consider actions and activities that can help build back into the wilderness.
Each year, the organizers of World Rewilding Day supply a theme that helps to lend focus to the annual event and also function as a hashtag for social media purposes. Some of the past themes have included important ideas such as “Rewilding Hope” and “Hope Into Action”.
Facts About World Rewilding Day
Ecological Rewilding Started as a Concept in the 1980s
The modern idea of “rewilding” emerged in North American conservation science in the late 1980s and 1990s, when ecologists such as Michael Soulé and Reed Noss proposed protecting large core areas, reconnecting them with wildlife corridors, and restoring missing keystone species like large carnivores.
Their influential 1998 paper on “continental conservation” framed rewilding as a strategy to rebuild self-sustaining, interconnected ecosystems at very large scales.
Trophic Rewilding Uses Big Animals to Repair Food Webs
“Trophic rewilding” focuses on bringing back large herbivores and predators so they can revive disrupted food chains.
For example, the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s changed elk behavior, which allowed riverbank vegetation and beavers to recover, improving habitat for birds, fish, and amphibians.
This kind of top‑down influence by big animals is now a central rationale for many rewilding projects worldwide.
Passive Rewilding Lets Abandoned Land Turn Wild Again
Not all rewilding relies on active planting or animal releases. Long-term studies in Europe have found that when farmland is simply abandoned and left alone, native trees and shrubs naturally recolonize, soils recover, and woodland wildlife returns within a few decades.
Research from Spain and the United Kingdom shows that “passive rewilding” can be a cost‑effective way to expand forest cover and habitat on marginal agricultural land.
Rewilding Can Lock Away Large Amounts of Carbon
Scientists increasingly view rewilding as a climate strategy because recovering ecosystems can store more carbon in vegetation and soils.
Modeling by Oxford and Leeds researchers suggests that restoring “megafauna” populations and their habitats could boost natural carbon storage enough to remove significant amounts of CO₂ this century, particularly through the recovery of forests, peatlands, and coastal wetlands.
Europe’s Bison Comeback Is a Rewilding Success Story
The European bison, once hunted to extinction in the wild, has been reintroduced through rewilding efforts in countries such as Poland, Romania, and the Netherlands.
Free‑roaming herds now shape grasslands and young forests by grazing, trampling, and dispersing seeds, which increases plant diversity and creates habitat for insects and birds. Conservationists consider the species’ return one of Europe’s clearest examples of rewilding in action.
River Rewilding Can Quickly Restore Wetland Wildlife
Rewilding does not just happen on land. In Florida, the decades‑long restoration of the Kissimmee River, which had been channelized for flood control, involved re‑meandering 40 miles of river and reflooding more than 40 square miles of floodplain.
Within a few years, wetland birds such as ibises and herons increased dramatically, and native fish communities began to rebound, demonstrating how river rewilding can rapidly revive lost wetlands.
Large Carnivore Returns Often Reduce Conflicts Over Time
Rewilding sometimes brings back predators like wolves and lynx to landscapes where people live and farm.
While conflicts with livestock can spike initially, long-term studies from Europe show that better herding practices, guardian animals, and compensation schemes can reduce losses and gradually increase public acceptance.
In countries like Italy and Spain, stable or growing wolf populations now coexist with pastoral economies where coexistence measures are widely used.
