Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith

Wild land for everyone: The Rothbury Estate campaign with Craig Bennett 03.06.2026 46min

"Our dream is that children growing up in Newcastle should be able to stand on those terraces, look out and see this wonderful sort of wild landscape, and be able to go to it and spend time in it and see how food is produced naturally and be part of all that. Why would anyone want to deny that future for children in Britain?" In this episode of Rewilding the World, Ben Goldsmith is joined by Craig Bennett, chief executive of the iconic Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. Under Craig’s leadershi...

Dams, pollution and the collapse of the European eel with Joe Pecorelli 20.05.2026 35min

"The work that I'm involved with is more at catchment, at river basin scale. So it's trying to do the best we can - for us it's within the Thames - to hold as many eels in it as possible within that can grow up and migrate back to the Sargasso." The European eel is a truly fascinating creature, spending its life in freshwater rivers, streams, and even ponds, before turning silvery blue and swimming all the way to Bermuda’s Sargasso Sea to breed. Eels are disappearing fast. In this episo...

Translocating two thousand giants across Africa with Donovan Jooste 06.05.2026 36min

"There's no silver bullet. It's a combination of efforts and it's a moving target. We constantly have to be adaptive, we constantly have to try and get ahead of the game and looking at it at a population level and not at an individual level is really, really important for the long term success here." African Parks made the astoundingly bold move of buying out a bankrupt white rhino farm in South Africa to rescue two thousand of these endangered giants. Now they’re busy translocati...

The cougar comeback with Renee Seacor and Emily Carrollo 22.04.2026 35min

"It's very important to remember - for the same reasons we bought back many of these other species like beaver, river otter, fisher, bald eagle - that all these species have a role ecologically in these ecosystems. And so the same questions should be asked for species like large carnivores to help restore those ecological interactions and ecosystem services." America’s apex predator is the cougar, or mountain lion. They’re thriving in the West, but were wiped out two centuries ago in the East...

Saving songbirds from slaughter in the Mediterranean with Lloyd Scott 08.04.2026 33min

"The amount of times I've been and just for a brief moment you almost sort of lose track and forget ... and you're just looking at this marvel on a really good migration day and the number of birds... and it's absolutely incredible and then the next thing you know, all of a sudden, you'll hear the gunshots start." The massacre of migrating birds each spring and autumn around the Mediterranean is ecocide. It’s done mostly for fun, status and selfies; sometimes for delicacies. Nightingales and ...

Bringing back the lost wild of Europe with Marija Krnjajic 25.03.2026 33min

"I was driving once with my ranger - and we were in the car - and in front of us was a big, grey wolf. He was astonished. Both of us, we just stopped breathing." In the latest episode of Rewilding the World Ben Goldsmith interviews Croatian conservationist Marija Krnjajic of Rewilding Europe. Marija Is leading an effort to restore and protect one of Europe's greatest wild places, the Velebit Mountains. After speaking with Marija, Ben found himself longing to visit this magical place, an...

A bold vision to rewild South America with Deli Saavedra 11.03.2026 37min

"This place went from zero percent possibilities to sight a jaguar in two or three days to 100 percent possibility to see jaguars. This change in perception of the people, because now 'the jaguar is not a problem' is an opportunity." Rewilding champion Deli Saavedra joins Ben Goldsmith again on Rewilding the World. Formerly Head of Landscapes at Rewilding Europe, Deli is now in Argentina leading the great Jaguar Rivers Initiative, one of the most ambitious rewilding initiatives in the w...

Fighting for America's largest blackwater swamp with Josh Marks 25.02.2026 36min

"Myself and my colleagues were not fooled, we knew exactly what the were intending to do, and so we got the band back together and we rose up to build an army of activists and advocates to fight them over the last seven years." Last year, Ben Goldsmith was lucky enough to visit the great Okefenokee swamp in Georgia; the largest federally protected area east of the Mississippi. The place is pure magic, full of birds and fish, alligators and the singing of frogs; dark night skies like he'd rare...

The rewilding powerhouse of Europe with Wouter Helmer 11.02.2026 35min

"If you give rivers more space to flood the lands, to bring sediment - sand, clay - they not only bring sediment, they also bring life!" In this episode of Rewilding the World, Ben Goldsmith interviews one of the most impactful architects of rewilding in Europe, Dutchman Wouter Helmer. Despite being the most densely populated, intensively farmed and heavily developed country in Europe, The Netherlands is a rewilding powerhouse. Wouter's key insight is simply that rewilding offers the mo...

Finding solace in nature with Dave Mountjoy 28.01.2026 36min

"The animals are already existing in a mindful, non-thinking state and it's us who have to experience that moment where everything stops and you're just being, you're just experiencing in the most direct way the absolute beauty that the natural world contains." Like Ben Goldsmith, the latest guest on Rewilding the world, Dave Mountjoy, found deep solace in nature following an appalling family tragedy. Nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Dave wrote a book about the profound connect...

Managing England's forests for nature with Bev Nichols 14.01.2026 37min

"What are the things that really might just make a difference that take us out of a conventional nature conservation headspace and start to really push the boundaries of what can be done? And of course of one of the huge advantages we have is we've got the land to do it." In the latest episode of Rewilding the World Ben Goldsmith speaks to Bev Nichols, Forest Wilding Programme Manager at Forestry England, the largest landowner in Britain. Bev is overseeing a process of weaving wild natu...

Rewilding back to the Ice Age with Nikita Zimov 31.12.2025 36min

"I don't want to make a zoo. I don't to take care of those animals for eternity, I want them to live on their own and in order to have a sustainable ecosystem it's extremely important to have all niches filled in this ecosystem." In the place of the vast Siberian tundras were once great grasslands teeming with wildlife, until early humans hunted them out. In the latest episode of Rewilding the World Nikita Zimov explains how his Pleistocene rewilding project in remotest Siberia is...

The crisis facing the curlew with Mary Colwell 17.12.2025 34min

"If it quacked like a Duck, to be honest I don't think we’d be that excited about it but because it sings like an angel and it looks so beautiful and it lives in liminal spaces - these wetland areas where we don’t really feel at home - all those things add together to make the Curlew a very mysterious and very loved bird." In this episode Ben Goldsmith is joined by Mary Colwell, Director of Curlew Action. She is also a writer, producer and a giant of Britain's conservation movement. Mary has ...

Liberating Michigan's mighty Boardman-Ottaway river with Frank Dituri and Brett Fessel 03.12.2025 34min

"We thought the project was over... We would lose the trust of the public and they were sceptical to begin with. We stuck together." Michigan's mighty Boardman-Ottaway River has been liberated by the removal of four huge concrete dams, thanks to decades of hard work by Frank Dituri and Brett Fessell. In this episode you'll hear all about this staggering story of restoration. Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world ...

Restoring Britain's wildest coast with Sandy Luk 19.11.2025 28min

"Our seas around the UK are so busy. There are so many different activities that happen on it, from fishing to offshore wind, to cabling, to shipping... so looking after and building space for restoration and regeneration and reseeding the sea is so important." On this episode of Rewilding the World Ben Goldsmith is joined by Sandy Luk about the Marine Conservation Society's ambitious Wild Atlantic Coast campaign. It aims to restore seagrass meadows, kelp forests, oyster reefs and abundant wi...

Why coexistence with wolves is vital with range-rider Daniel Curry 05.11.2025 37min

"They don't hate wolves, they just hate the idea of losing their livelihood. So for me, if we can prevent the conflict, and we can empower rural areas and rural land owners and ranchers to be the best stewards of the land that we can, that's the best way to keep conservation alive in the West." In the latest episode of Rewilding the World Ben Goldsmith talks to range-rider Daniel Curry who works with cattle ranchers to foster coexistence with wolves and other wildlife. Daniel is doing vital w...

Renaturing small spaces with James Canton 22.10.2025 35min

"Something like 27 million people in Britain consider themselves gardeners. If you can harness those people, if you can get them thinking about their relationship with the natural world; with wildlife, with invertebrates, with bugs, with biodiversity, you're getting quite a big chunk of Britain heading in the right direction." In this episode of Rewilding the World Ben Goldsmith talks to Dr. James Canton, author of Renaturing: Small Ways to Wild the World. Discover how James trans...

Protecting the new forests of New England with Shelby Perry 08.10.2025 34min

"What we really need to do, and what we're really trying to do with our work, is bring back that old forest condition and the main ingredient for that is time - we're buying these forests time." In this episode of Rewilding the World Ben Goldsmith talks with Shelby Perry from the Northeast Wilderness Trust. New England's vast and majestic forests have recovered greatly in the last century. Shelby and her colleagues are doing all they can to protect them into the future. Text...

Showcasing Otter-ly amazing aquatic engineers with Chanel Hason 24.09.2025 33min

"Sea otters are the best long term solution for the health of the ecosystem and resiliency off of the coast as a keystone species." The release of this episode of Rewilding the World coincides with Sea Otter Awareness Week. Ben Goldsmith talks with Chanel Hason of Elakha Alliance, working to reintroduce vital sea otters to their former Pacific north-west range. Sea Otter Awareness Week is organised and sponsored by Defenders of Wildlife, Sea Otter Savvy, California Department of P...

The plight of Sweden's wolves with Staffan Widstrand 10.09.2025 34min

"The wolf is the devil in hundreds and hundreds of years of storytelling. If you're talking about the devil's right hand it's very difficult to talk about proper population sizes or quotas; you just want to get rid of him." Imagine the reaction if the headlines proclaimed that Sri Lanka was to kill half its leopards, or Costa Rica half its jaguars. Well, here in Europe, Sweden is doing just that – downgrading or removing protections for vital, iconic species such as wolves, brown bears and ly...