History of Wild Europe – key events

Although originally founded in 2005, Wild Europe was formally recognised in an EU Parliamentary Resolution passed in February 2009, but 538 votes to 19. This provided 24 recommendations for improved protection, promotion and funding.

The Resolution was followed three months later in May 2009 by a European Commission Presidency conference on wilderness, organized by Wild Europe and held in Prague.

The 235 participants produced a strategy document – the Message from Prague – which also produced 24 recommendations, echoing many aspects from the EU Parliament Resolution.

In November 2010 a second European Commission Presidency conference, again organized by Wild Europe took place in Brussels. This produced a strategy for restoration of large ecosystem areas or wilderness.

Almost exactly three years after the 2009 Prague conference, PAN Parks Foundation with Wild Europe organized ’Protecting Wilderness in Europe’, a Forum at the EU Parliament to take stock of achievements and plan next steps.

This was followed in October 2014 by a wilderness related programme at Forum 2000 in Prague, which reviewed progress since 2009. Headed up by a video message from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, this was a testament to Vaclav Havel and took as its theme how wilderness as an established element of land use of crucial value to contemporary society.