Good news for those who love the protected areas of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve!
The main goal of this project is to increase the area’s natural value by ensuring an optimal preservation of important habitats found in the Natura 2000 Danube Delta Site – Carasuhat Pilot Area, thus aiding to accomplish the objectives postulated by the EU Environmental Operational Plan – Priority Axis no. 4. This project will breathe new life into 924 hectares of Carasuhat, which will be reconnected to the natural circuit of the Danube Delta over the following 12 months.
After a press conference held on July 24th 2014, a decision was taken to begin the project “Environmental reconstruction of publicly owned lands belonging to the Mahmudia Local Council in the Carasuhat agricultural area – Danube Delta”. This project is partly funded by the Cohesion and Regional Development Fund of the European Union and is run by the Local Council of Mahmudia. It will involve a number of environmental reconstruction actions that shall soon be undertaken in the Carasuhat agricultural area by the Mahmudia Council, WWF – Romania and the Administration for the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (picture no.1)
The actions envisaged are aimed at recreating the complex network of ponds and canals which, before the drainage an damming that occurred in the 1980s, offered food, shelter and breeding grounds for all the plants, birds and fish species one can find in the Delta, and which are now endangered. These works will create the necessary conditions for the recreation and preservation of 18 different types of habitat, acknowledging at the same time the socio-economic needs of the local community (Picture no. 2).
This project is co-financed by the European Fund for Regional Development and is a part of the Environmental Operational Plan 2007-2013. Work was supposed to begin two years ago, based on the financing contract no. 128266/01.03.2012 signed by the Ministry for the Environment and Climate Changes, acting as managing authority for the Environmental Operational Plan and the Mahmudia Local Council, the beneficiary of this operation.
It is important to know that the “Environmental reconstruction of publicly owned lands belonging to the Mahmudia Local Council in the Carasuhat agricultural area – Danube Delta” project is certainly the first environmental reconstruction action undertaken by a local community, and through “the involvement of locals in such actions, we can prove their strong connection to the values offered by the Delta’s ecosystems, even after 50 years of anthropization suffered by certain areas”. Therefore, at the end of this action, 18 types of habitats will be reconstructed and preserved, while also taking into account the economical needs of the local community.
We would like to thank all WWF Romania and Mahmudia Local Council members for their involvement in this project and we are eagerly awaiting its results!
Source of information: Ioana Cenușă – WWF Romania
Photo source: Cristian Mititelu Răileanu
Article written by Gabriela Moroșanu and translated by Mihail Mitoșeriu.
