Across Europe's mountains, millions of hectares of farmland are transforming into forest, not through government programs, but because people are leaving. In Portugal's remote Trás-os-Montes region, Lien Imbrechts discovered that this natural reforestation is far more complex than satellite images suggest. Retired emigrants plant olives. City dwellers manage almond groves from a distance. And on abandoned hillsides, forests reclaim land they haven't heldfor centuries.
This is Europe's largest reforestation process, yet almost nobody planned it. Professor Peter Verburg from Amsterdam's Vrije Universiteit predicts this pattern will continue beyond 2050 - driven by economics, demographics, and marginal soils that can no longer compete in modernagriculture.
The new forests bring hope: carbon sequestration and returning wildlife. But they also bring challenges: wildfire risk and unclear land ownership. The question remains: what kind of forests will they become?
Welcome to WILDCARD: The Forest Game, the scientific podcast that explores Europe's rewilding revolution through real ecological detective stories, uncovering how nature recovers when humans step back and observe.
CREDITS
«WILDCARD. The Forest Game» is a podcast production written by Silvia Giralucci for the WILDCARD project and Starter.
Featuring: Lien Imbrechts and Peter Verburg, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Scientific Supervisor: Giorgio Alberti, University of Udine
Editorial Supervisor: Gesche Schifferdecker, European Forest Institute
Voice-over: Rahel Könen, European Forest Institute
Post-production: Santiago Alarcón, European Forest Institute
Graphic design and visuals: Gabriela Rueda, European Forest Institute
⬇️Audio transcription available HERE
Learn more about the WILDCARD project: www.wildcard-project.eu
European Forest Institute: www.efi.int
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