Some Wildlife Conservation Efforts Are Working in Europe

Wildlife populations of invertebrate species, including mammals, have plummeted across the world. Since 1970, worldwide populations have decreased by almost three quarters, the WWF reports. The decline in invertebrate is alarming and is often going unnoticed and under-reported. Highly publicized conservation efforts mainly focus on larger mammals that the public can relate to better. However, numbers from the final report of the Rewilding Europe project published by Our World in Data show that repopulation project of wild mammals have been very successful on the continent, proving that with enough public will and funding, these undertakings can work very well.

The large mammals in question were decimated in Europe by hunting and, like so many other species, by habitat loss, Our World in Data reports. But in the years roughly between 1960 and 2016, targeted conservation has had hugely positive effects on certain highlighted species, bringing a select few back from the brink.

The European mammals that could recover populations most during the specific time frame were the beaver and the bison. While it is estimated that there were only a few thousand beavers left in Europe in the first half of the 20th century, this had by 2016 changed to a population of 1.2 million - an increase of more than 1,670 percent. The smaller bison population has made a similar comeback, recovering by 1,626 percent to around 10,000 wild and semi-wild specimen in Europe as of 2021.

European populations of the chamois and the grey wolf recovered by 1,000 percent and almost 1,900 percent, respectively, in roughly the same time period, while the badger and lynx could double and more than quintuple populations. Significant successes were also achieved for species like red deer, jackals, wild goats, ibex, otters and different types of large seals. Another symbol of increased European conservation efforts, the brown bear, grew its population by 44 percent between 1960 and 2016.

Conservation projects for the bear, as well as the wolf and the beaver, have received accolades but also caused controversies as increased populations required significant adjustments (and sometimes sacrifices) from farmers, ranchers and other rural populations regarding the poaching of life stock and the damming of rivers, changing their course and behavior.