The Dutch Postcode Lottery has awarded Rewilding Europe a particular grant of two.2 million euros for the European Wildlife Comeback Fund. An enormous enhance for wildlife comeback in Europe, the grant will probably be used to assist efforts to revive wildlife populations throughout Europe, with wide-ranging advantages for nature and other people.
Neil Aldridge
Vital contribution
Rewilding Europe’s European Wildlife Comeback Fund was launched in September 2022 to scale up the reintroduction and inhabitants reinforcement of keystone species throughout Europe. In 2023 alone, 16 translocations involving 13 wildlife species in 9 European nations have been supported by the fund, inside and outdoors Rewilding Europe’s rewilding landscapes. Collectively, these rewilding initiatives obtained funding amounting to just about 800,000 euros. The fund will assist an equally spectacular vary of initiatives within the years to return.
In unbelievable information for the additional return of wildlife in Europe, the Dutch Postcode Lottery has simply granted the European Wildlife Comeback Fund 2.2 million euros, which comes on high of annual grants made by the lottery to Rewilding Europe. Along with 2.8 million euros already secured from different donors, the brand new grant takes the price range of the fund for the interval 2022 – 2026 to five million euros, which means a major monetary goal has now been reached.
“This new grant, for which we’re massively grateful, will improve the variety of initiatives that the European Wildlife Comeback Fund can assist, and probably the quantity of funding offered to every one,” says Rewilding Europe’s Rewilding Supervisor, Sophie Monsarrat. “This, in flip, will allow the discharge of extra animals, speed up the creation of viable wildlife populations, and ship wide-ranging advantages to each nature and other people throughout Europe.”
Neil Aldridge
Why do we want extra wildlife?
There are a lot of causes to assist wildlife comeback in Europe. By means of their interactions with different species, and the landscapes the place they’re current, all wildlife species contribute to the well being, steadiness, resilience, and performance of nature. Massive, free-roaming herbivores reminiscent of European bison and wild horses promote biodiversity by means of their pure grazing, for instance, whereas vulture species assist to get rid of carcasses. Restoring wildlife populations additionally has the potential to extend the absorption and storage of atmospheric carbon, thereby serving to to mitigate the dimensions of local weather change.
Final however not least, the return of wildlife – notably iconic animal species reminiscent of European bison, Eurasian lynx, and vultures – can assist the event of nature-based tourism. By offering a spread of socio-economic advantages, this may help to revitalise European economies and communities, lots of that are going through a spread of challenges from points reminiscent of rural depopulation and land abandonment.
Funding from monetary companions such because the Dutch Postcode Lottery helps Rewilding Europe make Europe wilder. Listed here are a number of the highlights from final 12 months.
Hope for the long run
The newest version of the European Wildlife Comeback report – commissioned by Rewilding Europe and printed in September 2022 – reveals that the populations of many European wildlife species have grown – each in measurement and geographical vary – over the past 40 to 50 years. Providing actual hope for the long run, this reveals that nature can and can bounce again if we give it area and take measures to stay alongside it.
But this comeback is simply the beginning of what’s attainable, and likewise what is required. With acceptable measures and an growing tolerance of wildlife species by individuals, an ever-growing variety of European wildlife populations can and can proceed to extend in abundance and recolonise areas the place they existed earlier than. The European Wildlife Comeback Fund is designed to play an essential function on this scaling up course of.
“We’re proud that we’re in a position to present monetary assist to the European Wildlife Comeback Fund, because of the individuals enjoying within the lottery,” says Jonne Arnoldussen, Managing Director of the Dutch Postcode Lottery. “The fund has had such a constructive influence because it was based. Return of European wildlife is nice for European nature and for Europeans, and we stay up for seeing that influence scaled up shifting ahead.”
Examples of releases funded by the European Wildlife Comeback Fund to this point
Making a distinction
Unrestricted funding from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, which has supported Rewilding Europe since 2011, has been instrumental to the expansion and influence of our initiative, and pays testomony to the success of our rewilding efforts. We’re deeply appreciative of the Dutch Postcode Lottery, and all its individuals, for his or her longstanding and extremely valued assist, which helps to make Europe wild once more.
Yearly hundreds of thousands of euros in charitable donations are made attainable by the greater than 3 million individuals who take part within the Dutch Postcode Lottery (a minimal of 40% of each ticket goes to charity). The lottery, which has been elevating funds since 1989 to assist organisations working in direction of a fairer and greener world, is now the largest charity lottery within the Netherlands. It has now disbursed 8 billion euros to beneficiaries since basis.
The Dutch Postcode Lottery is a part of the Postcode Lottery Group, a social enterprise that has now established the distinctive Postcode Lottery format in 5 nations. The Postcode Lottery Group is the third largest non-public donor to charities on this planet, donating a file quantity of greater than 900 million euros to charities and cultural companions in 2023.
