Rewilding our World

We’re proud to partner with Rewilding Europe to rewild 100 square metres for every one of our passengers. Here we tell you why.

The world’s packed with an almost unimaginable abundance of flora and fauna, but with decades of deforestation, farming and industrialisation, our planet’s most beautifully biodiverse regions are significantly at risk of disappearing unless we start to increase our conservation efforts and rewild our world.

The process of “rewilding” helps to restore our nature’s ecosystems and biodiversity, for wildlife to return and thrive, while also combatting climate change by increasing the land’s ability to absorb carbon. Watch our short film and read on below for more on this vital nature restoration work, and how we support it.

Restoring Italy’s Wild Heart

Restoring Italy’s Wild Heart– a mini-documentary about the people, wildlife and stunning landscapes behind our Nature and Carbon Corridors Project in the Apennines.

At Exodus, we passionately seek to improve life through travel — for the places we visit, the people we meet, and the planet we explore. Our Nature Net Positive commitment outlines our plan to ensure that our adventures give far more back to our natural world than they take. We have partnered with biodiversity experts, Rewilding Europe, to help us work towards this goal, and in January 2021, we launched our first project together – the Nature and Carbon Corridors in the Italian Apennines.

“Working with Exodus Travels is hugely important for us to scale up our local rewilding impact on the ground and further develop our new and pioneering concept of Rewilding Credits. This way, our partnership not only addresses climate change, but also boosts biodiversity and provides wide-ranging benefits to local people.”
Timon Rutten – Head of Enterprise at Rewilding Europe

Who are Rewilding Europe?

Rewilding Europe are a Non-Profit Organisation (NGO) based in the Netherlands, who are working to create and restore large scale rewilded landscapes in 10 different regions across Europe. With their extensive knowledge and unrivalled expertise in the areas of biodiversity and wildlife protection, the team also pursue rewilding as an effective climate solution which helps to increase climate resilience, provide an effective carbon sink, and counteract the emerging environmental threats created by rural land-abandonment. Working collaboratively and building good relationships with local communities, National Park staff, landowners, and regional governments, this forward-thinking NGO is leading the way in the conservation movement across the continent to help make Europe a wilder place.

Why is rewilding so important for climate action?

Rewilding helps to restore and protect our planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity, which in turn plays a vital role in tackling climate change. Healthy natural ecosystems, like diverse forests, wetlands and grasslands, help provide highly effective carbon sinks, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, when we diminish or degrade these ecosystems, for example, through deforestation, farming and industrialisation, we not only lose these carbon sinks, but any stored carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. In turn, this contributes to a rise in our global temperature, leading to melting icecaps, rising sea levels and the further destruction of our biodiverse regions. But if we act now, we can find ways of working with nature, instead of against it.

The Nature and Carbon Corridors Project, Italy

Our inaugural project with Rewilding Europe aims to rewild 5,000 hectares of the Italian Apennines over the course of five years promoting recovery of regional biodiversity. Wild Italian landscapes like these are particularly close to our hearts as Italy remains our most popular destination for active and outdoor holidays.

By working to create five nature corridors to connect the surrounding National Parks, the project will allow for safe passage of local wildlife between parks and significantly increase the lush natural habitat this wildlife needs to thrive. In particular, this will enable an increase in the endangered Marsican bear population, as well as the recovery of wolf, wild cat and many other animal populations.

Once rewilded, the land in the Italian Apennines will also provide an effective carbon sink, capturing an estimated 85,000 tonnes of carbon over five years. While helping tackle climate change, this carbon capture also enables Rewilding Europe and Exodus to develop an innovative community carbon scheme, to support local smallholders and landowners in rewilding their land, while mitigating for any lost agricultural income.

Experience Rewilding the Apennines

Another way Exodus Travels is helping to support Rewilding Europe’s cause is with the launch of our new trip, Rewilding the Apennines. This trip not only allows travellers to see the beneficial impact of rewilding and building wildlife corridors first-hand, but it also allows us to engage local communities in the rewilding and conservation of these landscapes by developing ‘nature-based’ economic and employment opportunities through ecotourism. All profits from the sale of this trip will go to Rewilding Europe’s vital biodiversity restoration work, and as with all of our trips, 100 square metres of land will be rewilded for each passenger who travels. Click here to find out more about this trip.

Velebit Mountains, Croatia

In 2022, we are extending our support of Rewilding Europe’s vital work to the Velebit Mountains, alongside the Adriatic coast in Croatia. There, the local team aims to develop wildlife corridors, rewild forests and initiate natural grazing, supporting wonderful old-growth forests, deep canyons, ancient open lands, as well as exciting wildlife like Balkan chamois, red deer, brown bear, wolf and lynx. Read more here.

Our partnership with Rewilding Europe is part of our Nature Net Positive commitment which seeks to ensure our adventures give far more back to nature than they take. Read more here.