Places can have a particular taste, maybe one that is even iconic, and coffee was the obvious tool in our taste of place toolkit for decades. When it came time to focus on these products as our primary work we drew on some earlier experiments.

One was with honey and the other was with wine. All that was long before coming home to Costa Rica to launch Organikos.

We are about to introduce two new products, and one has a story that mixes conservation and rewilding. So, in this story  that follows we sense something akin to the Organikos products in our Authentica shops:

Nature-based business networks take off across Rewilding Europe landscapes

Helping nature heal can lead to prosperous local economies. Nature-based business networks are being developed in a growing number of our rewilding landscapes, enabling businesses and communities to benefit from nature recovery in a sustainable way. This, in turn, is generating more support for rewilding.

The network effect

Today, nature-based business networks are a growing feature of Rewilding Europe’s expanding portfolio of rewilding landscapes. These bring businesses together under a shared rewilding vision for the landscape, facilitating the creation of new tourism packages, helping to close gaps in tourism experiences, and creating new economic opportunities. They mean local businesses and communities can enjoy direct economic benefits from the recovery of wild nature, which in turn generates more support for rewilding.

The most fully developed example of a rewilding landscape-based business network is the Wild Côa Network, which was established by the Rewilding Portugal team in the Greater Côa Valley in early 2021. It now has more than 50 members, who meet online once a month and in person once a year, with a recent survey demonstrating its beneficial impact. The Rewilding Portugal team have recently launched a Rewilder Card, which gives users access to unique discounts on both Rewilding Portugal products and the products of a wide range of Wild Côa Network members.

Changing the narrative in the Iberian Highlands
The aim is to establish nature-based business networks in all of Rewilding Europe’s rewilding landscapes, with a number of rewilding teams already following in Rewilding Portugal’s footsteps.

In the Iberian Highlands rewilding landscape in Spain, the Rewilding Spain team are supporting a growing network of companies involved in nature-based tourism across the Castilla La Mancha and Aragón regions. The growth of such tourism, which is aligned with rewilding principles, will help to change the socio-economic outlook for local communities, in an area where rural depopulation has long had a negative impact.

“We hope that the growth of the association will help people in local communities see that rewilding and nature recovery can support the sustainable development of the region,” says Basilio Rodriguez, Rewilding Spain’s Enterprise Manager. “The companies involved will lead the way, with Rewilding Spain providing advice and other support.”…

Read the whole story here.