New IUCN Guidelines for Rewilding: reinforcing our path forward
This week, at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, the IUCN officially launched the 2025 Guidelines for Rewilding, a major step forward for the global restoration and rewilding community. These guidelines aim to provide a shared reference for how rewilding should be practised, ensuring consistency, rigour, and meaningful impact across landscapes and seascapes.
These new guidelines mark a shift from principles to practice. They offer detailed guidance on:
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How to design rewilding initiatives that are ecologically and socially grounded
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Adaptive management and risk assessment
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Stakeholder engagement and governance
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Metrics and monitoring to track the trajectory over time
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Integrating rewilding with existing frameworks like protected areas and restoration plans
Why This Matters for REWRITE and for Europe
Together, the IUCN Guidelines and the EU’s Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) now form two major pillars supporting ambitious rewilding in Europe. While the NRR provides the legal mandate and incentive, the IUCN Guidelines supply the technical and ethical compass for how to do it well.
REWRITE is well-positioned to serve as both a pioneer and a translator of these twin pillars:
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Our data from coastal ecosystems will offer empirical tests of how guideline recommendations work in saltmarshes, mudflats, seagrasses, and estuaries.
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Our stakeholder-centered model can pioneer governance templates grounded in fairness, legitimacy, and local ownership.
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As guideline-informed results emerge, REWRITE can feed lessons into European policy debates, helping strengthen the “how” behind the NRR’s mandates.
