The Board of Trustees of Rewilding Spain has renewed its positions for the next three years, during which the foundation will focus on consolidating the work already begun within the framework of the Iberian Highlands initiative and also on exploring new rewilding opportunities in other areas of Spain.
José María Rey Benayas, Professor of Ecology at the University of Alcalá, has been re-elected as the Chairman of the Foundation for this new period. In addition, Jordi Palau, author of Rewilding Iberia. Exploring the potential of rewilding in Spain, a pioneering publication in Spain on rewilding, and lawyer Marco Bolognini (MAIO Legal), will remain members. Mara Zamora will continue as General Manager of the Foundation and will also serve as general secretary of the Board of Trustees.
To address this new stage of consolidation in which Rewilding Spain aspires to become the benchmark organization in the field of rewilding in Spain, the Foundation is reinforced with the incorporation to the Board of Trustees of Odile Rodríguez de la Fuente, a graduate in Biological Sciences and Film Production, and a great scientific figure who has an extensive history of commitment to the defense of nature.
“Stronger nature means more opportunities for the landscape”
Having been linked to the international organization Rewilding Europe for the past nine years, Odile Rodríguez de la Fuente will now focus her support to rewilding in her own country. “It’s a great opportunity for to become part of the Board of Rewilding Spain. Understanding the initiative from the ground, with its challenges and achievements, will help me to complete the puzzle of what rewilding means at European level and in the landscape. Even more so when its implemented in my homeland and has become the first project in an area that I know in a deep way”, she said.
After a long period in which the vision of nature has been basically focused on conservation, Odile Rodríguez de la Fuente has highlighted how the rewilding approach offers a new perspective on how human beings can contribute to nature restoration: “Now, the challenge is to better understand ecological processes and invest in recovering the species and spaces that we have been losing in recent decades. Spain presents one of the best frameworks to put into practice many of the premises that underpin the objectives of the initiative. A stronger and more biodiverse nature means more opportunities for entrepreneurship and wealth for the landscape. It is an enormous privilege to be able to contribute to Rewilding Spain flourishing as a Spanish initiative, putting our country, once again, at the forefront of sustainability.”
Rewilding Spain leads on the ground the Iberian Highlands initiative, a pioneering rewilding plan that aims to restore the ecosystems of a vast landscape located in the provinces of Cuenca, Guadalajara and Teruel. This is carried out with financial support from the Endangered Landscapes Programme of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, Cartier for Nature and Rewilding Europe.