Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith Ben Goldsmith

"All of us involved in the project are driven by the opportunity to make a real difference for this special part of the planet."

Eradicating giant mice from South Africa's Marion Island, a vital haven for seabirds. The vast, wild Southern Ocean is home to albatrosses, petrels and other remarkable seabirds which wander for years on end in search of food.

Only to breed do the seabirds of the Southern Ocean need land, of which there are just a handful of tiny specs. One of these is South Africa's distant Marion Island, which has become overrun by invasive mice, introduced inadvertently by sailors at least two centuries ago. The mice eat the eggs, young and even the adult seabirds.

Now Anton Wolfaardt of BirdLife South Africa and his team have a wild plan to eradicate the mice, with the hope that it will allow seabirds to surge back to their historic abundance.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

"A lot of Costa Rica's success on forest cover hasn't been emulated in terms of active rewilding. That's what I'm trying to start the wheels turning in Costa Rica; when do we need to use more of an active approach?"

In this episode Ben Goldsmith is joined by Andy Whitworth of Osa Conservation, an organisation which is busy rewilding Costa Rica's ever wilder Osa Peninsula.

Liberated from low productivity, highly damaging cattle ranching, much of western Costa Rica is returning to forest. On the Osa Peninsula, a place of verdant green hills and white beaches, Andy and his team are focused on plans to reintroduce white-lipped peccaries, giant anteaters, harpy eagles and various other vital missing species.

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.

“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 Reserve on 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.
VivoBarefootVivobarefoot brings you closer to nature, allowing you to feel the ground beneath your feet.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

“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.