Wild Places

Re:storing the wild

Our forests, grasslands, peatlands, freshwater rivers and lakes, coral reefs, mangroves, seagrasses and other natural ecosystems do not merely provide a home for Earth’s plants, animals and fungi, they provide a liveable planet for all life, including each of us. Ecosystems regulate the climate and protect us from zoonotic disease; they generate clean air, fresh water and an abundance of food and medicines. And they do this for free—but only if we give them the chance. 

Mts. Iglit-Baco Natural Park on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines. (Photo by James Slade, Re:wild)

As humans continue to ravage our wildlands for agriculture, minerals, oil, timber and urban development, and other forms of short-term gain, we are also destroying our chance to implement the most effective solutions to the global climate and extinction crises. Healthy, intact ecosystems are much better at storing and sequestering carbon—a critical nature-based solution to the climate crisis—than degraded ones. We all need healthy ecosystems to survive.

Sunset behind acacia trees in Meru National Park, Kenya. (Photo by Robin Moore, Re:wild)

Rewilding for a balanced world

We know what, where and how to protect biodiversity; we know how to stabilize our climate, and we are committed to mobilizing the resources and political will to build a balanced world through rewilding. We do all of this hand-in-hand with national, regional, and global partners, Indigenous peoples and local communities.

A young Amercian crocodile among mangroves in a lagoon in Portland Bight Protected Area in Jamaica. (Photo by Robin Moore, Re:wild)

Banner collage image credits: Liz Brown, New Zealand Department of Conservation, Cristina Mittermeier, Robin Moore, SMART

Where we work

We work in more than 80 countries and prioritize the protection of Key Biodiversity Areas within Biodiversity Hotspots and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas. Protecting what remains of Earth’s wildlands is an essential part of safeguarding all life on Earth both now and for future generations. 

  • Biodiversity Hotspots

    Biodiversity Hotspots are biogeographic regions holding exceptional concentrations of endemic species that are severely threatened. Thirty-six terrestrial hotspots have been recognized, covering 16.7% of Earth’s land surface. What remains of the natural vegetation in these 36 hotspots, however, is down to 2.39% of the world’s land area, an area a little larger than India. Scientists estimate that half of all plant and vertebrate species are found only within the hotspots.

  • High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas

    High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas (HBWAs) are offer a proactive rather than reactive approach to prioritization. HBWAs are greater than 1 million hectares in area, and retain an extraordinary wealth of biodiversity. These areas are at least 70%, and up to 90%, intact.

  • Key Biodiversity Areas

    Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are sites that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity, delineated at a finer scale than both Biodiversity Hotspots and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas. As founding partners of the KBA Partnership, we aim to ensure that all 16,000 KBAs, especially the 8,000 within Biodiversity Hotspots and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas, are effectively safeguarded and restored through collaborations.

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Amazonia

Re:wild supports more than 35 partners in Amazonia on the front lines protecting this special place. Our work is helping improve conservation of more than 99.8 million acres of protected areas and Indigenous Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs) and contributing support to land titling efforts for 120 Indigenous communities over 5.9 million acres.
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Annamites

Re:wild supports conservation breeding programs for rare species in the Annamites. These programs are led by our partners on the ground, and are critical to the survival of species on the brink of extinction, like the Critically Endangered Saola.
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Australia

Australia and its amazing island of Tasmania are home to some of the most unusual and threatened wildlife on the planet, including in the rainforests in the mountains of New South Wales.
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The Bahamas

The Bahamas is home to the third-largest barrier reef in the world, and more than 300 bird species (many of which depend on The Bahamas to rest and recharge on long migratory journeys).
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Caribbean

Re:wild and our partners aim to boost the natural resilience of functioning ecosystems to the adverse impacts of climate change, while simultaneously reducing the vulnerability of local communities to destruction.
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child in Indio Maiz Biological Reserve

Indio Maíz-Tortuguero

Indio Maíz is leading a new movement of Indigenous and Community Conserved Territories and Areas. Conservation works best when local people are empowered and supported to lead it.
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Galápagos

Re:wild works with partners, the Ecuadorian government and local communities toward a shared vision of healthy, sustainable, functioning and vibrant island and marine ecosystems across the Galápagos.
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Madagascar

In addition to supporting and implementing specific conservation actions for lemurs and promoting ecotourism as a way to protect the forests while improving the livelihoods of local communities, Re:wild is focused on rewilding Madagascar through reforestation—an effective strategy for restoring degraded landscapes and forest health.
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Maya Forest Corridor

The Maya Forest Corridor Coalition, made up of local and international partners, including Re:wild, identified a minimum of 50,000 acres of forest that need to be protected to keep the corridor alive. Re:wild and the Maya Forest Corridor Coalition are working to acquire and protect the corridor and place it into trust in perpetuity for the people of Belize.
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Mesoamerica

Re:wild works closely with regional partners to implement large-scale programs to protect the five largest intact forests in Mesoamerica: the Maya Forest in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize; the Moskitia in Nicaragua and Honduras; the Indio Maíz-Tortuguero in Nicaragua and Costa Rica; the Talamanca Region in Costa Rica and Panama; and the Darien in Panama and Colombia.
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Sumatra

The Indonesian Island of Sumatra is home to incredible wildlife and forests and is part of the Sundaland Biodiversity Hotspot. It is home to critically endangered Sumatran rhinos, orangutans, Asian elephants and Sumatran tigers. Re:wild works with partners to save and restore Endangered species and irreplaceable ecosystems in Sumatra.
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Virunga National Park

Re:wild has teamed up with the European Commission and Virunga National Park in a partnership that aims to restore the park’s ecosystems with a focus on the great apes, and establish the park as the major driver for economic growth, peace and stability in eastern Congo.
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