The Dutch Postcode Lottery has awarded Rewilding Europe a special grant of €2.2 million for the European Wildlife Reinstatement Fund. Significantly boosting the return of wildlife in Europe, the grant will be used to support efforts to restore wildlife populations across Europe and deliver wide-ranging benefits to nature and people.
![Wiebke Brenner, Poland's wildlife reinstatement officer, releases a Eurasian lynx from its crate.](https://rewildingeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/RS19417_P1036669_scr-1206x906.jpg)
Neil Aldridge
important contribution
Rewilding Europe's European Wildlife Reintroduction Fund was launched in September 2022 to scale up the reintroduction and population enhancement of key species across Europe. In 2023 alone, 16 translocations involving 13 species of wildlife in 9 European countries were supported by the fund within and around Rewilding Europe's rewilding areas. These rewilding schemes have received nearly €800,000 in funding. The fund will support an equally impressive range of initiatives in the future.
In fantastic news about the further return of Europe's wildlife, the Dutch Postcode Lottery has just granted €2.2 million to the European Wildlife Reinstatement Fund. This is in addition to the annual grant paid to Rewilding Europe through the lottery. Together with the €2.8 million already secured from other donors, the new grant takes the Fund's budget for the period 2022-2026 to €5 million, meaning that a significant financial target has now been reached.
“This new grant, for which we are very grateful, will increase the number of schemes that the European Wildlife Restoration Fund can support and potentially the amount of funding provided to each,” says Sophie Monsarrat, Rewilding Manager at Rewilding Europe. “This will ultimately enable the release of more animals, accelerate the creation of viable wildlife populations and deliver far-reaching benefits to both nature and people across Europe.”
![](https://rewildingeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/RE_NeilAldridge_WaterVoleRelease_9_LowRes-1024x683.jpg)
Neil Aldridge
Why do we need more wildlife?
There are many reasons to support the return of wildlife in Europe. Through their interactions with other species and the landscapes in which they exist, all wildlife species contribute to the health, balance, resilience and functioning of nature. For example, large free-roaming herbivores such as European bison and wild horses promote biodiversity through natural grazing, while vulture species help dispose of carcasses. Restoring wildlife populations can help mitigate the scale of climate change by increasing the uptake and storage of atmospheric carbon.
Finally, the return of wildlife, especially iconic species such as European bison, Eurasian lynx, and eagles, can support the development of nature-based tourism. By providing a range of social and economic benefits, this can help revitalize European economies and communities. Many of them face a variety of challenges due to issues such as rural depopulation and land abandonment.
Funding from financial partners such as the Dutch Postcode Lottery is helping Rewilding Europe make Europe wilder. Here are some highlights from last year:
hope for the future
The latest edition of the Returning Wildlife in Europe report, commissioned by Rewilding Europe and published in September 2022, shows that populations of many European wildlife species have increased in both size and geographical range over the past 40 to 50 years. What offers real hope for the future is that nature can and will recover if we give it space and take steps to live with it.
But this return is just the beginning of what is possible, and what is necessary. With appropriate measures and people's increasing tolerance of wildlife species, increasing numbers of European wildlife populations can and will continue to grow and recolonize areas where they previously existed. The European Wildlife Reinstatement Fund is designed to play a key role in this scaling-up process.
“We are proud to be able to provide financial support to the European Wildlife Reinstatement Fund thanks to the people who participate in our lottery,” said Jonne Arnoldussen, Managing Director of the Netherlands Postcode Lottery. He said: “The fund has had a very positive impact since it was established. “The return of European wildlife is a good thing for Europe’s nature and its people, and we look forward to seeing its impact expand further in the future.”
Examples of releases funded by the European Wildlife Restoration Fund to date
bring about change
Unrestricted funding from the Netherlands Postcode Lottery, which has supported Rewilding Europe since 2011, has been instrumental in the growth and impact of our initiative and demonstrates the success of our rewilding efforts. We are deeply grateful to the Dutch Postcode Lottery and all its participants for their long-standing and highly valued support, which is helping to make Europe vibrant again.
Every year, more than 3 million people who participate in the Dutch Postcode Lottery contribute millions of euros in charitable donations (at least 40% of all tickets are donated to charity). The lottery, which has been raising funds since 1989 to support organizations working for a fairer, greener world, is now the largest charity lottery in the Netherlands. Since its founding, it has paid out €8 billion to beneficiaries.
The Dutch Postcode Lottery is now part of the Postcode Lottery Group, a social enterprise that has established unique postcode lottery formats in five countries. Postcode Lottery Group is the world's third largest private donor to charity, donating a record amount of more than €900 million to charities and cultural partners in 2023.