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The provided text highlights rewilding efforts in Ukraine and the Danube Delta region, emphasizing ecological restoration and community resilience amid ongoing conflict and environmental challenges.
### Key Points:
– **Kulan and Fire Management:**
Kulan (wild asses) play a critical role in managing vegetation, thereby reducing wildfire risk intensified by climate change and wartime hazards like landmines. Their grazing reduces flammable plant continuity, and their droppings improve soil health by adding organic matter, resulting in better water retention and reduced runoff.
– **Soil Fertility and Carbon Sequestration:**
Reintroducing ancient grazers (like kulan, water buffalo, and Konik horses) alongside rodents such as marmots and black-bellied European hamsters has enhanced soil fertility in the Steppe. This, in turn, improves carbon sequestration, helping mitigate climate change.
– **Community and Economic Benefits:**
Nature restoration supports local communities by aiding climate adaptation (e.g., wetlands) and enabling nature-based enterprises such as ecological tourism. However, the war has severely impacted Ukrainian rural economies, with reduced wages and shuttered ethno tourism sites, alongside billions lost in cultural and tourism revenue.
– **Tourism Preparation:**
Rewilding Ukraine is building infrastructure, like Eco-park Tarutino, to welcome tourists post-conflict. This includes facilities for wildlife watching and educational tours on reintroduced animals.
– **Danube Delta Rewilding:**
The Danube Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as “Europe’s Amazon,” is undergoing restoration from Soviet-era hydraulic management back to a wild wetland. Actions include removing old dams and reestablishing fish spawning grounds, resulting in cascading ecological benefits such as increased fish populations and bird diversity.
– **Scientific and Organizational Support:**
The efforts are supported by organizations like the Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme (ELSP) at the University of Cambridge, which monitors ecological responses including vegetation reduction and carbon deposition due to reintroducing large herbivores.
– **Social Initiatives:**
Rewilding Ukraine integrates social programs supporting war veterans’ PTSD recovery and involving young people from Ukraine and Romania in rewilding education and activities strengthening their connection with nature.
– **Resilience and Hope:**
Despite war challenges, the projects demonstrate that Ukraine’s nature is resilient and intertwined with the resilience of its people, offering hope for ecological and social recovery post-war.
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