Preparing a New Generation of Wilderness Entrepreneurs

Abstract

This chapter discusses the role of education in the preparation of the next generation of entrepreneurs in nature conservation. Departing from the traditional conservation education, which emphasizes ecological management, the chapter is a plea for incorporating entrepreneurship in the curricula of educational programmes on rewilding ecosystems. An Erasmus Intensive Programme on European Wilderness Entrepreneurship is presented as a case study. A set of competences is defined and operationalized based on the evaluation of the first edition of the programme undertaken in Rewilding Europe's pilot area in Western Iberia. Aspects of the learning strategies and learning environment are presented and reviewed. The conclusion of this chapter is that to learn wilderness entrepreneurship competences, an environment should be created in which students, teachers and stakeholder co-learn at the boundaries of their comfort zones.

Rewilding complex ecosystems

“…Economic benefits of rewilding may arise from opportunities for nature-based economies and alternative sources of income based on nonmaterial contributions from nature [e.g., recreational activities (42,91,92)]. Furthermore, natural disturbance events can trigger innovation and change in social-ecological systems (93).…”

Developing guidelines and a theory of change framework to inform rewilding application

“…To enhance sustainability, it is suggested that projects are integrated into the fabric of the system (Saunders, 2011;Jepson et al, 2018). This includes considering how funding and resourcing for rewilding can be integrated within a system (Groom et al, 1999;Donlan et al, 2005;Gow, 2006;Jobse et al, 2015), so that finite and external funding is less critical. However, examples demonstrate that longevity is not just about economic sustainability but also about engendering a sustainable culture suited to the place, seeking to reform existing industry or resource use, for example hunting, forestry, or mining (Jepson et al, 2018).…”

The “European Yellowstone”: Entrepreneurs of the Wilderness and Transnational Elites in the Romanian Carpathians

“…The rise of these eco-preneurs is closely connected to the adaptation of capitalism to environmental imperatives. They proliferate and prosper in the new climate of global environmental politics (Jobse et al 2015). Entrepreneurship is ubiquitous in contemporary biodiversity protection (MacDonald 2010) and analysing it helps us identify processes of the neoliberalisation of nature (Apostolopoulou et al 2021).…”