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.
Despite the difficult weather conditions, at the end of December 2021, winter survey of the Dalmatian pelican took place in Ukraine. It was organized simultaneously with similar surveys in other Eastern European countries. This year’s results give hope: three and a half times more pelicans are left to spend the winter in the Danube Delta than last year.
The arrival of 20 more kulan on the Tarutino Steppe is part of a long-term reintroduction programme. The animals will fill an important ecological niche and enhance biodiversity.
3 red deers and 3 fallow deers settled on the Ermakiv island in the Danube Biosphere Reserve as part of the partnership between Rewilding Ukraine and Feldman Ecopark. Animals will complement the natural grazing on the island and promote eco-tourism in the region.