We are pleased to start the year with some encouraging news: species and habitats listed in the Resolutions of the Bern Convention may soon benefit from enhanced protection in Ukraine. This progress is linked to improvements in the management of Ukraine’s Emerald Network, and Rewilding Ukraine is proud to play an active role in this important initiative.
Artificial nesting platforms are supporting the ongoing recovery of European Dalmatian pelican populations in the Danube Delta and beyond.
At the end of February, another crucial step was taken to deepen the collaboration between Rewilding Ukraine and the Borodino territorial community in preserving and ecologically restoring the Budzhak steppes, with the Tarutino steppe landscape reserve at its core. Two training seminars on rewilding for local residents were conducted in the Borodino community.
The Rewilding Ukraine team are engaged in long-term efforts to create a wilder and healthier Tarutino Steppe. The ongoing reintroduction of European hamsters will help to restore local food webs, enhance biodiversity, and boost nature-based tourism.
Today, on the World Danube Day, we would like to share some good news: as a result of the work to reconnect the Danube with the lakes, large amounts of clean water are flowing into Lake Katlabuh for the first time in many years. The Rewilding Ukraine team have been working together with local partners to restore the connectivity of floodplains in the Danube Delta since 2019. By connecting Katlabuh Lake with the Danube River, our latest efforts are a step towards revitalising an entire chain of water bodies, with wide-ranging benefits for nature, local communities and society.
The Danube Delta is one of Rewilding Europe’s nine large rewilding areas. Rewilding Ukraine, being a non-governmental organisation and a proud partner of the Rewilding Europe network, is working to revitalise and rewild landscapes of the Danube Delta by encouraging wildlife comeback, reintroducing lost species and providing space for wildlife to flourish and communities to thrive. Integral to the success is the involvement of people, communities and businesses.
At the end of December, an ornithologist Maksym Yakovlev and a zoologist Oleksandr Gaydash traditionally went to the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta to count the Dalmatian pelicans. Due to the war, access to some areas was limited or even closed, but scientists managed to do the counts in many large water bodies of the delta.
Rewilding goes on even in hard times. More than 22 cubs of various species were born in the rewilding areas in the Danube Delta. The Rewilding Ukraine team is delighted that this year’s breeding season in the region went very well despite the war in Ukraine and drought.
The project “Assessing carbon sequestration and storage by dry grassland ecosystems” was launched, implemented by Rewilding Ukraine together with a team of scientists. In the summer, the first project research took place in the Tarutino steppe and in the Biosphere Reserve “Askania-Nova”.
On behalf of 1+1 media, one of the largest media holdings in Eastern Europe, and Rewilding Ukraine, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the restoration of natural landscapes, wildlife comeback, and sustainable community development, we appeal to the international wildlife community and relevant organizations, as well as people all over the world who are concerned by the situation.