Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith

“I would be very excited if I found a grasshopper on the balcony and my parents would put it in a jar for me to observe.”

In this episode Melpo Apostolidou from BirdLife Cyprus tells Ben Goldsmith about the remarkable ongoing effort to return the vital, majestic Griffon vulture to the skies of Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean.

Melpo and her team have achieved this extraordinary feat against a backdrop of poisoning, ill-considered and unsustainable development and, worst of all, rampant illegal hunting of migrating birds. The BirdLife team is doing an amazing job reducing each of these things year on year, and the beautiful island of Cyprus is steadily coming back to life.

Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to environmentalists from all over the world who are working to help restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

This episode’s release coincides with World Rewilding Day 2024, with this year’s theme being Hope Into Action. A great example of this in practice is the work being carried out by Jonathan Thomson who has created the twenty-two acre wild paradise Underhill Nature Reserveon the border of Wiltshire and Dorset in southern England.

A lot of people wonder how to go about rewilding smaller patches of land. The answer can be found in playing the role of the keystone species yourself! In this episode Ben Goldsmith speaks to Jonathan about how he has become a guru for those rewilding smaller patches of land, from a small garden up to fifty acres.

According to Jonathan, the key is for you to play the role of beaver, bison, wild boar and even wolf. Hordes of school children and people keen to learn from his experiences now pass through his plot of land to see how he does it, as well as to experience the beauty and natural vibrancy he has created there. Hear Jonathan give his advice on how to create your own small wildwood.

Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to environmentalists from all over the world who are working to help restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

“We’re already starting to see dramatic habitat and water quality improvement across that Kissimmee valley.”

The Everglades, North America’s largest and most vital wetland, is a place of extraordinary beauty but is facing enormous problems. The immense ‘river of grass’ has been desperately disfigured, principally by ill-considered hydrological engineering and heavily subsidised industrial sugar production.

In this episode Ben Goldsmith is joined by Steve Davies, lead scientist of The Everglades Foundation, which is leading efforts to restore the Everglades to health. Now the vast sheet of water is beginning to flow south once again, in the way that it should, and wildlife is resurgent.

Floridians have come to understand that the Everglades underpin everything they have and everything they do, from fresh water to flood defence to the sandy beaches on which Florida’s tourism industry depends. Finally, under the guidance of Steve and his colleagues, the state is stepping up and restoration is underway.

Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to environmentalists from all over the world who are working to help restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.

This episode is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. All Vivobarefoot footwear is designed to bring you closer to nature by enabling you to be as close to barefoot as possible. They promote your foot's natural strength and movement, allowing you to feel the ground beneath your feet.

You can enjoy 15% off all Vivobarefoot products using the code VIVOREWILDING15, valid until 30 April 2024.

“Feral cats are the primary driver of the decline of small mammals. We’ve lost more than 30 mammal species in Australia over the last couple of hundred years and the primary driver of that is cats.”

Australia has a mammoth problem with invasive species brought by European settlers to the country which had been isolated from the rest of the world for millennia. Now, major efforts are underway to restore vast tracts of wild land and the wildlife that once inhabited it.

In this episode Ben Goldsmith is joined by Tim Allard who leads the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. The organisation is working to restore millions of hectares of wilderness in Australia.

One of the keys to AWC’s success are the partnerships he and his team have developed with cattle ranchers, indigenous communities and other rural stakeholders, who all have a hand in bringing the landscapes they love back to life.

Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to environmentalists from all over the world who are working to help restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.

This episode is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. All Vivobarefoot footwear is designed to bring you closer to nature by enabling you to be as close to barefoot as possible. They promote your foot's natural strength and movement, allowing you to feel the ground beneath your feet.

You can enjoy 15% off all Vivobarefoot products using the code VIVOREWILDING15, valid until 30 April 2024.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

“Think globally, but act locally. We need to start putting some of that stuff back locally otherwise we don’t pass on anything great to our future generations.”

The Scottish Highlands is one of Britain’s most beautiful and ecologically degraded landscapes. Change is in the air, however, as long lost keystone species such as wild boar, wildcats, white-tailed eagles and beavers are returning.

In this episode Ben Goldsmith speaks with Highlander David Balharry, who leads the John Muir Trust, an organisation which is leading efforts to restore the great mosaic of woodlands and wetlands that once made the Highlands one of Europe’s wildest landscapes.

Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to environmentalists from all over the world who are working to help restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.

This episode is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. All Vivobarefoot footwear is designed to bring you closer to nature by enabling you as close to barefoot as possible. They promote your foot's natural strength and movement, allowing you to feel the ground beneath your feet.

You can enjoy 15% off all Vivobarefoot products by clicking this link and using the code VIVOREWILDING15, valid until 30 April 2024.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

“With abundance comes resilience and with abundance these animals and the wildlife populations can thrive and can survive these climatic changes.”

Andreia Pawel is from ORKCA, the Orange River-Karoo Conservation Area, based in the south of Namibia. The country is made up primarily of desert but once was a the place where springbok migrations dwarfed those of modern day zebra and wildebeest.

Andriea and her team have partnered with local landowners to secure areas surrounding the Orange River with the plan to create a 2.5 million acre reserve. They are working to reintroduce the wildlife that one lived there, restoring the landscape to its full vibrancy for the benefit of local communities and nature.

Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to environmentalists from all over the world who are working to help restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet.

This episode is sponsored by Vivobarefoot. All Vivobarefoot footwear is designed to bring you closer to nature by enabling you as close to barefoot as possible. They promote your foot's natural strength and movement, allowing you to feel the ground beneath your feet.

You can enjoy 15% off all Vivobarefoot products by clicking this link and using the code VIVOREWILDING15, valid until 30 April 2024.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

“What we are doing is to create the conditions, ecological and sociological, for the return of these two large predators that are present… but we need to find conditions for them to settle and to grow.”

Drive through Portugal and you will see vast plantations of non-native species like eucalyptus and pine. But with these plants comes the demise of the ecosystem and a huge risk of fire; in 2017 more than 100 people died in forest fires that were able to cross huge swathes of land and even dams.

Pedro Prata is helping to restore great swathes of Portugal and provide spaces for native species to thrive, including lynx and wolves. Through buying patches of land Rewilding Portugal is creating a mosaic of areas to reintroduce native animals and plant species with the hope they will spill out to the surrounding areas.

Join rewilding enthusiast and financier Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to environmental trail blazers from all corners of the globe.

Recent climate science seems to paint a picture of despair with irreparable damage being done to our natural world. But there are rays of hope. Across the planet people are carrying out astonishing work, returning large areas of land and oceans back to their former glory.

This podcast is produced byThe Podcast Coach.

“Our hallmark is the reintroduction of the Scimitar-horned Oryx… It’s a beautiful, beautiful beast and it was a tragedy that it was allowed to go extinct in the first place.”

The Scimitar-horned Oryx, the animal symbol of Sahara Conservation, was driven to extinction in the wild in the 1990s due to a lethal combination of overhunting, drought and habitat loss.

In this episode Ben Goldsmith is joined by John Watkin, the outgoing Chief Executive of Sahara Conservation. John and his team were charged with restoring a truly immense landscape in Africa’s Sahel region, including the reintroduction of species that have almost disappeared or have been lost from the region entirely.

Join rewilding enthusiast and financier Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to environmental trail blazers from all corners of the globe.

Recent climate science seems to paint a picture of despair with irreparable damage being done to our natural world. But there are rays of hope. Across the planet people are carrying out astonishing work, returning large areas of land and oceans back to their former glory.

This podcast is produced byThe Podcast Coach.

“The river is not only valuable for its biodiversity but also for the culture and spiritual significance that it has for communities.”

The Amazon of Europe stretches across five countries and is one of the places where there are still wild, pristine rivers. Dragana Mileusnic from The Nature Conservancy is part of the United for Rivers project helping to protect these precious freshwater gems for future generations.

It’s an area which encompasses a treasure trove of nature and culture. However, Southeast Europe is now in the grips of a hydropower development boom. The Nature Conservancy is working to help countries achieve their green energy potential whilst conserving natural beauty and diversity.

Join rewilding enthusiast and financier Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to environmental trail blazers from all corners of the globe.

Recent climate science seems to paint a picture of despair with irreparable damage being done to our natural world. But there are rays of hope. Across the planet people are carrying out astonishing work, returning large areas of land and oceans back to their former glory.

This podcast is produced byThe Podcast Coach.

“The first time I saw a tiger pugmark in Cauvery landscape I was totally thrilled, I can’t explain the thrill and the joy I had. That’s what you all work and survive for, right?”

Sanjay Gubbi hit headlines six years ago after he was attacked by a leopard that had strayed on to the grounds of a school. Despite being seriously injured, Sanjay has made a full recovery and is very vocal about the problems that a loss of habitat is having on animals such as leopards.

Sanjay and his team at the Holematthi Nature Foundation are working with local communities to establish safe habitat and corridors for leopards and other iconic Indian wildlife across the country's southern states.

Join rewilding enthusiast and financier Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to environmental trail blazers from all corners of the globe.

Recent climate science seems to paint a picture of despair with irreparable damage being done to our natural world. But there are rays of hope. Across the planet people are carrying out astonishing work, returning large areas of land and oceans back to their former glory.

This podcast is produced byThe Podcast Coach.

“What we need more than anything now from our landscape is carbon sequestration, flood risk reduction, biodiversity improvement and all those other so-called public goods.”

The Lake District is an iconic landscape loved by millions and people traveling from all over the world to revel in its beauty. It’s the land of Beatrix Potter, Wordsworth and one of the country’s most ambitious rewilding projects. 

Lee Schofieldis an author and head of RSPB Haweswater in the Lakes, a place which incorporates a huge variety of ecosystems from ancient woodlands, a reservoir and two traditional hillside farms. Luke is spearheading a project to create a landscape of thriving uplands wildlife alongside sustainable farming.

Join rewilding enthusiast and financier Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to environmental trail blazers from all corners of the globe.

Recent climate science seems to paint a picture of despair with irreparable damage being done to our natural world. But there are rays of hope. Across the planet people are carrying out astonishing work, returning large areas of land and oceans back to their former glory.

This podcast is produced byThe Podcast Coach. 

“Even in ten years we changed the entire ecosystem in Gökova Bay and fisheries.” 

The world’s oceans have been depleted of many important species through overfishing. Removing parts of the sea’s ecosystem and the introduction of invasive species can have far reaching consequences both in and on the water.

Zafer Kizilkaya is an award winning conservationist. In 2012 he founded the Mediterranean Conservation Society which built and oversaw Turkey’s first community-managed Marine Protected Area. These MPAs have now expanded along the Turquoise Coast and have seen balance returning to their ecosystems. Zafer also helped to reduce the number of invasive species by encouraging local fishermen to catch lionfish and rabbitfish, and for local fine-dining chefs to include them on the menus in their restaurants.

Join rewilding enthusiast and financier Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to environmental trail blazers from all corners of the globe.

Recent climate science seems to paint a picture of despair with irreparable damage being done to our natural world. But there are rays of hope. Across the planet people are carrying out astonishing work, returning large areas of land and oceans back to their former glory.

This podcast is produced byThe Podcast Coach. 

“Affric Highlands is an area of landscape between Loch Ness and the west coast of Scotland, looking over to the Isle of Skye. It’s about 500,000 acres so it’s like a small country.”

Scotland’s fabled highlands are not what we think they are. Once upon a time the great Caledonian forests stretched from coast to coast, famed for its wildness and size. It teemed with wildlife and large animals like wolves, bears and lynx. Now, so much of what was once there has gone.

In this episode Ben Goldsmith is joined by Steve Micklewright from Trees for Life. They, and organisations like them, are working to reinstate wild forest in the Highlands and build a new economy around wildlife and nature tourism.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he is joined by people behind some of the most exciting and ambitious rewilding projects around the world.

Every year we hear stories about wildlife being destroyed. However, there are rays of hope as across the globe people are working to give nature a hand to recover and rejuvenate.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

“When I see things like the crossing that’s just going in north of Los Angeles for mountain lions, bobcats and other species it’s a sign to me that humanity finally gets that it’s impacting nature and, essentially, impacting us.”

The shorthand definition of rewilding is the ‘Three Cs’; Core areas, Carnivores, and Corridors.

Jodi Hilty is president and chief scientist of Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, one of the largest wildlife corridor creating projects in the world.

Jodi and her colleagues are working to piece together habitat along 3000km of the western side of North America. They envision an interconnected system of wild lands and waters stretching from Yellowstone in the US to Canada’s Yukon Territory, which works for both people and nature.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he is joined by people behind some of the most exciting and ambitious rewilding projects around the world.

Every year we hear stories about wildlife being destroyed. However, there are rays of hope as across the globe people are working to give nature a hand to recover and rejuvenate.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

“As Kazakhstan became part of the Soviet Union a whole series of very large transformations took place. 45 million hectares of land within Kazakhstan was simply ploughed under the Virgin Lands campaign.”

Mark Day is from the RSPB and part of the team delivering a project covering 180 million acres in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The Altyn Dala, an area the size of France and Germany combined, is a huge grassland that once may have rivalled the Serengeti.

The Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative has been working for almost 20 years to save the critically endangered saiga antelope and establish new protected areas. Last year, its success received recognition from the United Nations, which named the project among its first 10 World Restoration Flagships.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he is joined by people behind some of the most exciting and ambitious rewilding projects around the world.

Every year we hear stories about wildlife being destroyed. However, there are rays of hope as across the globe people are working to give nature a hand to recover and rejuvenate.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

“We call it rooting your identity. That really brings people close to the ground and feeling powerful and connected.”

In this episode Ben Goldsmith speaks to Astrid Vargas from Inspiration 4 Action. Astrid has been part of a plan to save one of the rarest big cats from extinction; the Iberian lynx. It was previously thought there were only 90 individuals left.

Thanks to the efforts of Astrid and others, a captive breeding programme has succeeded in boosting the numbers of this extraordinary rare cat to almost 1700 in the wild today.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he is joined by people behind some of the most exciting and ambitious rewilding projects around the world.

Every year we hear stories about wildlife being destroyed. However, there are rays of hope as across the globe people are working to give nature a hand to recover and rejuvenate.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.  

“If you combine all of these reserves together they constitute an area of about 200,000 square kilometres... it’s probably one of the world’s largest terrestrial protected areas.”

Saudi Arabia is huge - almost ten times the size of Britain - and is well known for its deserts. However, once upon a time it had savannahs akin to those in East Africa, where once lived ostriches and striped hyenas and large predators like leopards and cheaters. A lot of that habitat has now gone following the arrival of motorcars, guns and livestock.

In this episode Ben Goldsmith talks to Dr Stephen Browne who is in charge of a huge programme of wildlife reintroduction and rehabilitation at the Royal Commission for AlUla. In 2023 it plans to release more than 1500 animals including oryx, gazelles and ibex into its reserves.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he is joined by people behind some of the most exciting and ambitious rewilding projects around the world.

Every year we hear stories about wildlife being destroyed. However, there are rays of hope as across the globe people are working to give nature a hand to recover and rejuvenate.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

“We really are focused on prioritising those species that are about to blink out. We must make sure that on our watch that doesn’t happen.”

Welcome to a new series of Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith. In this first episode Ben speaks to Penny Becker, Vice President of Island Conservation.

Island Conservation works to remove invasive invertebrate species from island ecosystems. Overwhelmingly, the majority of extinctions that have taken place over the last few centuries have occurred on islands. By removing these invasive species it gives an island’s ecosystem a chance of recovery.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he is joined by people behind some of the most exciting and ambitious rewilding projects around the world.

Every year we hear stories about wildlife being destroyed. However, there are rays of hope as across the globe people are working to give nature a hand to recover and rejuvenate.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

“We belong here. The challenge is can we be here without impacting detrimentally on the rest of the ecosystem. And the simple answer is yes we can; we know what to do and we know how to do it.”

In this special episode join Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to conservationist and author Isabella Tree and Director of Rewilding Britain, Alistair Driver, about the concept of rewilding.

Rewilding as a term means different things to different people, and can sometimes be viewed negatively.

In this podcast the three talk about their own passion for rewilding and tackle some hard-hitting questions - such as how are we going to feed ourselves if we hand back some of our farmland to nature?

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’s joined the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

Season two of Rewilding The World is out in September 2023.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

“If we can restore large scale damaged ecosystems then why don’t we do it?” 

Sometimes it’s said that the environmental and rewilding movement is not ambitious enough. Ben speaks to Ties van der Hoeven, co-founder of The Weather Makers, who is working on probably the most exciting and ambitious rewilding idea you have ever heard of.

Drawing inspiration from landscape restoration taking place in China and elsewhere, Ties has an idea to regreen the Sinai peninsula, a triangle of desert that connects Egypt to Asia. It’s an area where people and nature have been unable to flourish but was once teeming with life of all kinds. 

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

“I thought well I can die tomorrow, it’s fine, they are back.”

Kristine Tompkins is founder of Tompkins Conservation and former chief executive of the outdoor-apparel company Patagonia. She and her late husband Douglas have been pioneers of rewilding since the beginning of the movement.

The couple purchased millions of acres of land across Chile and Argentina to restore to wilderness. Kristine speaks to Ben Goldsmith about her rewilding journey spanning the past three decades, including the reintroduction of jaguars.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

“I think people are afraid that we want to remove all the dams in the world.”

Dams can effectively act as concrete straight jackets. Weirs and dams and other obstructions cause all kinds of harm, some of which we understand and much of which we don’t. 

More than one million barriers are thought to exist in Europe’s rivers, with many of them over 100 years old. Some are old and obsolete, serving no economic or environmental purpose. 

Spain is leading the way in the number of structures being removed from its rivers. In this episode Ben Goldsmith speaks to Pao Fernández Garrido from Dam Removal Europe about why the movement is taking such a hold there.   

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth. 

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand. 

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

“If there is tens of thousands of hectares on the market then you might as well use them for conservation.”

Christoph Promberger from Carpathia Wilderness Reserve, is rewilding an enormous woodland across Transylvania, Carpathia and Romania. He joins Ben Goldsmith from his home at the foot of the Carpathian mountains, a range which stretches through seven countries and home to some of Europe’s rarest large mammals including brown bears, lynx and wolves.

Over the last few decades the area has been affected by logging and lots of pristine forest has been lost. Christoph and Barbara have been fighting this deforestation through buying land in an attempt to protect it.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

“Wild areas where you are going to be walking for two days completely alone, there is no one else.”

No country in western Europe has as much diversity and abundance of wildlife and landscapes as Spain. Ben Goldsmith speaks to Deli Saavedra from Rewilding Europe about the exciting things which are happening there on scale.

Deli is leading a project in the Iberian Highlands, the name given to an area of land stretching from Madrid and Barcelona of almost one million hectares. There, entire landscapes are returning to ecological health and populations of iconic wildlife such as wolves and bears are recovering.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

“This is where they have been for millions of years and they deserve a home on the Northern Great Plains.”

The great American Prairies were once one of the greatest ecosystems in the world. We have all seen images and heard stories of great herds of bison roaming vast swathes of endless grasslands, but a lot of that landscape is now gone. 

But all is not lost. Alison Fox from American Prairie Reserve joins Ben Goldsmith to talk about plans to pull off a dramatic restoration project in Montana.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth. 

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand. 

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Join Ben Goldsmith for this brand new podcast as he speaks to some of the most influential people behind the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects across the globe.