Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Staffan Widstrand / Rewilding Europe

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Magnus Lundgren / Wild Wonders of Europe

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Staffan Widstrand / Rewilding Europe

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Magnus Lundgren / Rewilding Europe

Europe’s unrivalled wetland

Where the mighty Danube river meets the Black Sea, it has created a massive delta land, Europe’s largest wetland area. It is still surprisingly wild and relatively undestroyed.

The 580,000 hectare delta is home to massive amounts of waterbirds of all kinds, most notably pelicans of two species, herons, storks, cormorants and terns. It is a favourite staging area for passage migrants and also wintering grounds for masses of migrating waterbirds from the steppes, the boreal forests and the tundras further north.

Here also lie some of Europe’s very few remaining grazed mosaic forest landscapes, the beautiful woodlands of Letea and Caraorman. Beavers are slowly making their return into the area, the area holds healthy populations of golden jackal while white-tailed eagles show a remarkable comeback.

The massive productivity of the many water habitats here has led to the delta harbouring the largest number of fish species anywhere in Europe. Flagship species of which are the four species of sturgeon, which once used to wander the entire length of the Danube river all the way up into Germany. The area has unprecedented potential for wetland restoration and rewilding, in particular the former polders and lakes can be reflooded and reconnected with the Danube river dynamics.


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The war in Ukraine is unfolding in a terrible way. We are doing what we can to help our team and partners that are living and working in the Danube Delta region.

With your donation, we will be able to purchase and transfer medicine, equipment and any other priority item to cover the needs of staff, employees and their families in Ukraine.

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Rewilding vision

For each rewilding landscape we developed an inspiring vision that shows our ambition for the next ten years. Together with our local partners we work to make this vision a reality.

What are we doing here?

Using natural dynamics as drivers of change

One of the least populated areas in Europe, the Danube Delta offers a unique opportunity to restore a whole spectrum of biodiverse habitats – from open estuarine systems, naturally grazed grassland and vast reed beds through to freshwater marshes, coastal lagoons, shallow lakes, riverine forests and steppes.

Working with partners, the rewilding team is working to significantly improve the ecological integrity and natural functioning of 40,000 hectares of wetland and steppe habitat, using rewilding principles at on a landscape scale. Revitalised and self-governing natural processes, particularly flooding and natural grazing, will govern landscape formation, driving other natural processes, wildlife comeback, increased biodiversity and the development of a nature-based economy.

Wildlife comeback

In the Danube Delta, we are supporting the return of various species to the landscape – restoring natural grazing, enhancing food webs, and boosting biodiversity.

Rewilding Ukraine is restoring ecosystems by reintroducing large herbivores in various areas, reviving natural grazing processes and restoring ecological balance. Herds of different large grazers – including water buffalo, red and fallow deer, semi-wild horses, and kulan – have been released in delta landscapes and are naturally growing.

To restore food webs and enhance biodiversity on the steppe, we have also launched reintroduction programmes for small rodents. Meanwhile, efforts to restore predator populations are underway, including the reintroduction of eagle owls to the delta.

Nature for people

We are working to reconnect people with the nature of the delta by developing educational programmes, fostering pride within local communities, and raising awareness among diverse audiences.

We also aim to create new opportunities for delta communities by supporting the development of nature-based businesses and eco-tourism infrastructure, such as wildlife-watching towers, eco-trails, interpretive panels, and observation hides.

On the Ukrainian side of the delta – where the war has had a profound impact on both society and the regional economy – we are promoting co-existence with wild nature to encourage acceptance of returning wildlife.

We are also harnessing the healing power of nature through a veteran rehabilitation programme in rewilding areas. This initiative is not only supporting emotional recovery, but is contributing to the local economy and laying the foundation for nature-based business development in the post-war period.

“Danube Delta is a truly unique ecosystem”

Mykhailo Nesterenko

Mykhailo Nesterenko
Rewilding Ukraine team leader

How would you characterise your rewilding landscape?
The Danube Delta is Europe’s largest remaining natural wetland – a truly unique ecosystem. The delta region includes extensive examples of unaltered rivers, lakes, reed beds, marshes, steppes, dunes, sandbars, coasts, lagoons, salt marshes and climax forests. Local communities in the Danube Delta (the Danube Delta Sub-Basin District supports more than one million people) have little knowledge and limited capacity to use ecosystems in an economically and ecologically sustainable way, directly impacting living standards and biodiversity. With the delta acting as a historic crossroads, this is an extremely diverse region in terms of nationalities, with each preserving its customs and traditions.

What have the major achievements been in your rewilding landscape to date?
The restoration of large islands in the Danube Biosphere Reserve, one of the most successful wetland restoration projects in the region. Also a number of community-based projects, in collaboration with the muncipality of Orlovka. These have included local wetland restoration, the reintroduction of water buffalo for natural grazing, and the establishment of a nature park to generate income for the community. We now take this work further as Rewilding Ukraine.

What would you like to see achieved in your rewilding landscape in the next five years?
We have a fairly ambitious plan to restore large wetlands in the Danube Delta, as well as steppes in the Danube Delta region. I would also like to see more large herbivores introduced, and the further development of several nature-based economic initiatives. All of this will build on our past success and the partnerships that we have forged over almost two decades of conservation work on the Ukrainian side of the delta.

Our main achievements

Image gallery

Team members

Mykhailo Nesterenko

Team leader, Ukraine

Ioana-Cătălina Petrencu

Team leader, Romania

Oleg Dyakov

Rewilding Officer, Ukraine

Alexandru Ifrim

Rewilding Officer, Romania

Sebastian Ursuta

Building Engagement Manager, Romania

Valeriia Nemykina

Communications Officer, Ukraine

Oleksandr Gaidash

Field officer, Ukraine

Oleksiy Pudovkin

Consultant for animal translocation, Ukraine

Tetiana Galiutkina

Financial Manager, Ukraine

Gentilia Zenovei-Balaban

Enterprise Officer, Romania

Igor Studennikov

Fundraising Officer, Ukraine

Natalia Kulik

Accountant, Ukraine

Olena Gavran

F&A assistant, Ukraine

Octavia-Petra Părău

Administrative Officer, Romania

Board members

Rewilding Ukraine
Joseph Chernichko
Nataliya Zakorchevnaya
Igor Studennikov

Partners

Rewilding Europe works with three main partners in the Danube Delta: Rewilding Ukraine, Rewilding Romania, and Verde e Moldova in Moldova.

These local partners each have their own local partners, such as the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Authority and Danube Delta Research Institute (INCDDD) in Romania, as well as Danube Biosphere Reserve, Danube Delta water management department, and the Borodyno community in Ukraine, and more.

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Contact

Website: rewilding-danube-delta.com

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