The European Wilderness Society, headquartered in Austria, is a non-profit European non-governmental organisation whose mission is to identify and certify Europe's last wilderness, wild coasts, rivers, primeval forests and islands and to support their sustainable and environmentally friendly marketing (nature tourism) and management in order to be able to preserve the areas permanently.
To achieve its goals, the association has developed the European Wilderness Quality Standard and Audit System together with numerous wilderness organisations (including Wild Europe, Wildland Research Institute, UNEP, WWF, IUCN, ZGF, EUROPARC, UNWTO, John Muir Trust and UNESCO), a uniform European certification system for existing and potential wilderness areas and wild areas (wilderness development areas).
The European Wilderness Society was registered in March 2014 in Tamsweg, Austria as a non-profit environmental protection association for the protection of European wilderness. In the first two years of the society, eight protected areas were certified.