In the Țarcu mountains of Romania, a pioneering experiment is changing the atmosphere around rewilding. Starting in 2014, around 100 European bison were gradually reintroduced to the area, having been wiped out by hunting more than 200 years ago. They now number more than 170 and graze over some 48 square kilometres. That is a success story in itself. But there is more to this project than just bringing back the big beasts. Their domain has also become a carbon hoover, sucking an estimated 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the air every year, equivalent to taking 43,000 petrol cars off the road.
The bison themselves aren’t a significant carbon sink. It is their influence on the wider environment –…
