In Romania’s Arc Mountains, pioneering experiments change the atmosphere around the re-wild wild. From 2014, around 100 European bisons have been gradually reintroduced into the region, and were wiped out by hunts more than 200 years ago. They currently count more than 170 and graze at about 48 square kilometres. It is a success story in itself. But this project doesn’t just bring back the big beasts. Their domain also becomes carbon hoover, which is equivalent to sucking an estimated 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the air each year and ingesting 43,000 gasoline vehicles from the road.
Bison itself is not a critical carbon sink. It is turbocharged with its ability to absorb carbon, with a wider environmental impact – dispersing seeds, dispersing seeds, creating a variety of habitats. The area they roams are immersed ten times the amount they had before the bison was reintroduced.
The Arcu Mountains experiment is the first test of that concept Oswald Schmitzthe Yale University ecologist claims it could help restore the atmosphere to its previous state and arrest climate change. Schmitz and his collaborators argue that if similar projects were deployed worldwide, both on land and on sea, then a significant amount of carbon would disappear.
These researchers are now building their evidence base and honing their plans. Meanwhile, some climate scientists have raised concerns that they are trying to put…
