Overview

Pollution

Changes in the Hydrological Regime

Consequences of Land Use

Future Trends in the Use of Resources

Overview

Although Romania is rich in biodiversity (particularly in terms of large size and quality of valuable ecosystems and the quantity of some species), the country has undergone a progressive loss of biodiversity as a result of human activity. Agriculture, industrial development and urbanization, in particular, have profoundly affected the biological diversity, both generally and locally. Pollution, the alteration of river courses and hydrotechnical works, mineral resource extraction and the overexploitation of biological resources have been the main factors involved.

It has been estimated that during the last fifty years, there has been a permanent loss of 250,000 ha of forest and grassland ecosystems, and that an additional 280,000 ha have been temporarily or only partially lost. A total of about 400,000 ha of wetland habitat (much of it along the Danube River) has been permanently or partially lost as well.

Pollution

Air, water and soil pollution have been and continue to represent major threats to the biodiversity in Romania. Industrial pollution decreased in the last years of the economic transition process due to significant reductions in the industrial activities. Agriculture runoff is also a major polluting factor in some areas.

Part of the inland waters which could sustain a rich biological diversity are polluted, and the Danube brings from the countries located upstream a pollution level with negative impact upon the river's biological diversity, as well as on the Danube Delta and the Black Sea. The high nutrient load of the Danube River has caused eutrophication in the Danube Delta lakes where macrophyte, mollusc, benthic and fish species have consequently been reduced. This is particularly damaging to fish population but also to marine mammals.

Changes in the Hydrological Regime

One of the most significant ecological changes that have occurred in Romania has been the alteration in the course of rivers and the construction of hydrotechnical works. In most cases, these actions have had major negative consequences for aquatic biocoenoses, causing the loss of natural ecosystems and terrestrial habitats, as well as the loss of ecological balance within these ecosystems on a large scale. The loss of groundwater as a result of hydrotechnical works has, for example, produced the partial or total drying out of about 20,000 ha of forest.

The draining of wetlands was promoted by the previous regime in order to ensure increased areas of arable land for agriculture. This practice led to the loss of approximately 400,000 ha of floodplains, particularly along the Danube river and in the Danube Delta (80,000 ha). The embanking of the Danube River and the building of the hydraulic power plants at Portile de Fier have also had a major impact in destroying the spawning areas and the breeding success of many fish species. Together with pollution, this factor has led to a reduction of the sturgeon harvest (now 50 times lower than previously reported) and carp (now 10 times lower than previously reported).
Out of the 25 sturgeon species existing worldwide, 6 species are known for the Danube River Basin, namely: beluga (Huso huso), Acipenser guldenstaedti, Acipenser stellatus, sterlet (Acipenser rhutenus), Acipenser shui and Acipenser nudiventris. Beginning with the 60's, the last three species are considered extinct or very rare within Romanian waters. The main causes for their decline are: the shrinking of their spawning territory due to the hydrotechnical works, the increasing pollution of waters and the overexploitation. The other three species face a major decline, special measures of restoration being required.

Consequences of Land Use

Estimations indicate that about 40% of the agricultural area are affected by erosion with an average rate of 16.5 t/ha/yr. The irrigation of agricultural land (about 3,200,000 ha in 1989) has also brought about increased salinization on large areas. Overgrazing in some areas is also reducing soil resources (e.g. contribution to erosion, especially on slopes).

Future Trends in the Use of Resources

Although there is a considerable number of damaging practices and activities affecting biodiversity in Romania, there are also many possibilities to reduce the damage to biodiversity. Within the country there is a highly developed sense of the connection between people and land, and the political changes of 1989 have entailed a neat return of people to rural areas.

Traditional harvesting and grazing practices in Romania present an opportunity to support a sizeable rural population, which lives within the limits of the available biological resources. Tourism could be developed to provide such communities with additional sources of revenue while offering incentives to retain or revive traditional practices that are sustainable, or to develop new means for a sustainable use of the natural resources.

There is a great potential to develop ecological tourism activities in many of Romania's natural areas. A newly formed association of ecological tourist homes and farms is currently promoting this idea. Some small projects are already ongoing and several larger ones have been proposed.

Romania faces many changes as it moves towards a market economy. As the economic wealth of the country is supposed to grow in the future, new environmental pressures and challenges will arise. The private ownership of land, rises in personal consumption and the manufacture of consumer goods, the privatisation and decentralisation of industry, will bring both new threats as well as new opportunities for the protection of biodiversity. Although there has been considerable human modification to the Romanian environment the potential exists for Romania's development to proceed in a manner that protects the country's valuable biological resources and at the same time improves the country's economic welfare.