A house located on land deformed by thawing permafrost in the village of Churapcha in Russia’s Yakutia region
Photo: Maxim Shemetov (Reuters)
In a far northeastern corner of Yakutia, about 1,600 kilometers from Yakutsk, ecologist Sergei Zimov and his son Nikita have created what they call Pleistocene Park. They have turned a 145-square-kilometer plot of land into an experiment in reversing the effects of climate change. To halt the thawing of permafrost, they are repopulating the area with wild animals.
The Zimovs began introducing wildlife into the fenced park in 1996 and have so far relocated around 200 animals, including bison, muskox, reindeer, and horses. They say that, as the animals trample the snow, its insulating properties are diminished and the brutal winter cold can reach farther into the soil. At the same time, the reintroduction of grazing animals is expected to help restore the grasslands ecosystem that existed during the last Ice Age.
The loss of permafrost is considered both a result of and contributor to climate change. Scientists say that greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost could eventually match or exceed the European Union’s industrial emissions.
Permafrost covers 65 percent of Russia’s landmass. At a site called Duvanny Yar, it’s possible to see the effects of the underground thaw, revealing Pleistocene-era flora and fauna that were frozen for millennia.
As once-frozen organic matter thaws and decomposes, it threatens to release vast amounts of greenhouse gases. Scientists estimate that permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere contains about 1.5 trillion tons of carbon, about twice the amount currently in the atmosphere, or about three times the amount in all living trees and other plants on earth.
Sunken or irregular land appears in places where the permafrost has degraded, producing a type of terrain known as thermokarst. The town of Churapcha is one of many locations across northern Russia where a changing climate has transformed the landscape.
Across Russia, there are more than 15 million people living on permafrost. By some estimates, damage to cities and infrastructure could cost Russia some $100 billion by 2050 if the rate of warming continues.
Many homes, pipelines, and roads in Russia’s far north were built with the assumption that the permafrost would remain solid, and are now beginning to crumble.
Sergei Zimov has worked to raise awareness of the dangers of climate change and the loss of permafrost for decades. “It is very hard to agree to reduce industrial CO2 emissions. Reducing permafrost emissions [is] much easier,” Zimov wrote in a 1988 manifesto laying out his bold ambition. “All [that’s] needed is to cross mental barriers, accept that pasture ecosystems have a right to live, and return part of the territory which our ancestors took from them.”
The Zimovs say the animals populating Pleistocene Park are already having an impact, keeping the soil cooler than in surrounding areas. But the project is only a demonstration of the idea’s potential. The ecologists would like to see hundreds of thousands of grazing animals return to millions of acres of Arctic territory. “We’re working to prove that these ecosystems will help in the fight, but, of course, our efforts alone are not enough,” Nikita Zimov said.
