Rewilding Argentina's Ibera Wetlands
In January 2023, I co-authored a feature with Daniel Allen for Geographical magazine on one of the most ambitious rewilding programmes in the world: the restoration of Argentina’s Ibera Wetlands.
A Landscape Reborn
The Ibera Wetlands in northeast Argentina’s Corrientes Province span 13,000 square kilometres of floodplain, grassland, and subtropical forest — home to over 4,000 species. The name comes from the Guarani y bera, meaning “shining waters.” Yet decades of illegal hunting, cattle ranching, and intensive forestry had devastated the wildlife that once thrived here.
The transformation began when conservationists Kristine and Doug Tompkins — founders of Patagonia, The North Face, and Esprit turned environmental philanthropists — started acquiring land after being captivated by the landscape. Their organisation, Fundacion Rewilding Argentina (FRA), was spun off from Tompkins Conservation in 2010 with an audacious goal: bring back the keystone species that had been extinct in the region for decades.
The Return of the Jaguar
The jaguar is the flagship of the Ibera programme. On 6 January 2021, two four-month-old cubs and their mother became the first jaguars to roam free in Ibera in 70 years. By the time of our visit, the wild population had grown to 12, with four cubs born outside the enclosures. The park’s carrying capacity is estimated at around 100 jaguars — a target potentially reachable within a decade.
The programme had already reintroduced giant anteaters, red-and-green macaws, and pampas deer before the jaguars arrived, rebuilding the trophic web piece by piece.
Production of Nature
What makes Ibera remarkable is not just the ecology but the economics. FRA developed the concept of produccion de naturaleza — “production of nature” — to bring local communities on board. The results speak for themselves: over 50,000 tourists visited in 2021. In the village of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, 95% of residents now live off tourism. Former hunters have become rangers and guides. The New York Times ranked Ibera sixth among the 52 best places to experience nature.
This is rewilding at its most complete: restoring ecosystems, rebuilding economies, and transforming the relationship between people and wildlife.
Originally published in Geographical magazine, 5 January 2023. Co-authored by Daniel Allen and Cain Blythe.