COUNTDOWN TO 2050
Rewild Half the Planet
The science is clear: to halt the sixth mass extinction and stabilise the climate, we need to protect and restore at least half of Earth's land and ocean by 2050. Here's where we stand right now.
Where we stand
Key metrics tracking progress toward the 2050 goal
17.6%
Earth's land under protection
Protected Planet / WDPA
120+
Active rewilding projects globally
Global Rewilding Alliance
48
Species with recovering populations
IUCN Red List
102B USD
Private nature finance in circulation
UNEP FI, State of Finance for Nature (June 2024)
Milestones
Key dates on the road to 2050
Goldman Sachs launches Biodiversity Bond Fund
A fixed income fund for biodiversity conservation and remediation, marking the entry of major investment banking into nature-positive finance.
Private nature finance grows 11-fold since 2020
Reaching over $102 billion in circulation, signalling that the market is recognising natural capital as a genuine asset class.
European bison population passes 10,000
A milestone for the largest land mammal in Europe: 10,536 in total at the end of 2022, of which 8,225 were free-living, with herds in Poland, Romania, and the Carpathians.
196 countries commit to 30x30 biodiversity target
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework commits signatories to protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030.
Wild beavers officially protected in England
The Beavers (England) Order takes effect on 1 October. The River Otter five-year trial ended in August 2020, when Defra let that population stay.
Rewilding: The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery published
Cain Blythe and Paul Jepson publish with Icon Books / MIT Press, establishing the scientific framework that The Fear Paradox builds upon.
Wolves confirmed breeding in the Netherlands for first time in 200 years
Natural recolonisation from Germany demonstrates that predator recovery is possible even in densely populated Western Europe.
Wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone
The event that triggered the most famous trophic cascade in ecology, and the founding story of the Landscape of Fear.
Find out where you stand
The Fear Paradox explains why we're not moving faster, and what to do about it.