The great herbivores of the Caucasus stage a comeback
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02 Jun 2026
Story
Climate Action
The great herbivores of the Caucasus stage a comeback
Credit: UNEP/Florian Fussstetter
In the dappled shade of Azerbaijan’s Shahdagh National Park, beneath the snowy peaks of the Caucasus Mountains, lumber shaggy beasts not seen in these forests for over a century.<br>Many of these bison, a hybrid of the lowland and Caucasian varieties, were plucked from European zoos and transplanted to the park over the last seven years. There are now around 90 of the animals living in Shahdagh, including several pregnant females.<br>These bison are helping to revive the plains on which they roam, stabilizing the mountain grasslands on which local communities rely for food, fresh water and tourism income.
Hunted to extinction, Caucasian bison disappeared from the wild in 1927. But today, a hybrid of lowland and Caucasian bison is being reintroduced in Azerbaijan’s Shahdagh National Park. Credit: UNEP/Florian Fussstetter
They are part of a broader national effort to restore Azerbaijan’s ecosystems by reintroducing species, including those that have gone extinct in the wild. That push is designed in part to help blunt the effects of climate change, which has been raising temperatures, disrupting precipitation patterns, and increasing the risk of wildfires and landslides across the country.
“Whenever we help nature to be healthy, nature delivers on more than one front,” says Mirey Atallah, the head of the Adaptation and Resilience branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “In the long term, we're delivering benefits for people in terms of climate mitigation and adaptation and societal resilience.”
Rangers in Shahdagh National Park oversee the bison reintroduction, helping to feed and track the animals during the gradual rewilding process. Credit: UNEP/Florian Fussstetter
Restoring ecosystems helps temper the effects of climate change in many different ways. For example, replanting mangroves can buffer coastal communities against increasingly severe storm surges and sea-level rise. Reviving wetlands can recharge groundwater supplies, crucial during times of drought. And seeding vegetation along hillsides can prevent landslides triggered by heavier-than-normal rains.<br>“Ecosystem restoration helps human social and economic systems to cope with multiple climate shocks,” explains Atallah.<br>Reintroducing native species, known as rewilding, is one of many restoration techniques – and among the most effective, she adds.<br>Ecosystem engineers<br>Victims of overhunting and habitat loss, the last wild Caucasian bison was killed in 1927. Elshad Askerov, head of World Wildlife Fund Azerbaijan, explains that during the Soviet period, many other species were pushed to the brink of extinction. “Soils and forests were severely overused, and many animals lost their habitats,” he says.<br>“We now have a historic...