Good things can happen on small and big scales, and it’s all meaningful. I’m very much for the idea that rewilding occurs along a spectrum, and you can start at a very small scale and start to rebuild systems and they become part of a patchwork of bigger systems. I feel it is important to have a movement that allows everyone to believe it’s possible to think a little bit wilder.

“Issy and I have spent the last four years writing a book that’s about how to achieve rewilding across both large and small areas. Do you feel that your understanding of rewilding aligns closely with Rewilding Europe’s approach? Rewilding is a word that means different things to different people. Even though the EU is such a big space to be working with, we need to be thinking even more broadly about how we’re functioning with all our neighbours.”

So, we’ve got to be fully aware of where our landscapes sit within the greater continental mass of Europe and beyond into Africa and Eurasia. There are incredible projects starting up from Serbia to Turkey and from Iceland to Azerbaijan. We’ve got to think much broader than even that. And even more than that, to my thinking, the work that we’re doing with the Endangered Landscape Programme shows that the ‘little Europe’ if you like, with just the EU countries, is not the end of it. I think we should have stayed within the European Union and that Brexit is a complete nightmare. From the smaller practical side to the bigger scale, these experiences allow me to believe I can help in achieving change.”Ĭharlie’s understanding of landscape-scale rewilding has deepened through his board duties for Foundation Conservation Carpathia in Romania.Īs someone who is based in Britain, what does it mean for you to be joining a European organisation? So, I understand the complexities of how you set up these huge landscape-scale rewilding initiatives. Our success at Knepp has also meant that I now sit on a load of other boards, like the Endangered Landscape Programme – which is very much involved in funding a lot of landscape restoration work in Europe – and Foundation Conservation Carpathia in Romania for example, which is a vast rewilding project.

Even though Knepp is small in comparison to the sorts of larger landscapes that we often think about in Europe, I can give my reflection on the topics that the board is overseeing based on my personal experiences. “I see myself as a practical man, and the experience of doing something myself in Sussex has given me twenty years of insight into the practicalities of how you can actually do rewilding. What experience do you bring to Rewilding Europe?

Rewilding book knepp