Radio România Internațional

Tag: species

  • Farming in Romania, past and present

    Farming in Romania, past and present

    A
    surface area of over a hundred thousand hectares of arid land stretches in
    southern Romania, nearby Dabuleni, a locality known as the motherland of sugar
    melons. The area is dubbed Romania’s Sahara. It already covers the greater part
    of Dolj County’s eastern side, while silviculturists and NGOs have been trying
    really hard to stop the advance of sands, mainly with the help of acacia plantations.
    In the commune of Carcea, close by Craiova’s Internationals Airport, over the
    summer, the farming cultivations are ailing. Not to mention the fact that summers
    in Oltenia are long and hot.


    However,
    The Forest of Tomorrow Foundation has come up with a new idea and performs an
    experiment. We have a brown-reddish soil, a semi-clayish structure Marian Mechenici
    explains, who is employed by a company that contributes to the setting up of
    that experimental plantation. It doesn’t have a satisfactory response in the
    dry season. It cracks a lot. His teams
    have already prepared 1.3 hectares of land that were sown with cereals and
    vegetables, just like the surrounding fields. What makes this parcel different,
    though, is the fact that it was simultaneously planted with fruit-bearing shrubs
    and trees.


    Always
    in search of new solutions for climate fight, the Forest of Tomorrow Foundation
    has purposefully financed a research study on the performance of agroforestry
    systems.


    We
    want our fight to be as active as possible, against climate change and also in a
    bid to enlarge Romania’s afforested surface areas, the director of the Forest
    of Tomorrow Foundation, Mihai Caradaica, explains. Mostly for the plains region,
    where we can find around 6% of Romania’s forests, the benefits of the agroforestry
    systems are multiple: the reduction of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,
    the increase of the farming cultivations’ economic potential through the humidity
    provided by the trees and the fertilization of the soil, protection for the
    livestock there where the agroforestry systems are implemented in farms, Mihai
    Caradaica also said.


    But
    what is an agroforestry system? We’ve found that out visiting the site of the Forest
    of Tomorrow Foundation. The definitions provided by literature are many, yet
    all of them highlight
    the integration of trees and other wood species (in various combinations) in
    the farming cultivations, in pastures or in zootechnical activities, in a bid
    to have extra benefits from the same surface area. The shelterbelts protecting
    cereal cultivations, or the trees, be they isolated or in groves, that have
    been preserved on livestock grazing land are the handiest examples for Romania,
    yet the concept is a lot richer when it comes to the applied side. It is, perhaps,
    the oldest model of long-lasting land management, dating from the Neolithic
    period, when human being began to cultivate plants under the shelter provided
    by forests. However, in the 20th century, the agroforestry systems were
    almost completely replaced, in the West, by intensive farming: cultivations
    planted on uninterrupted areas, using mechanized means and supported chemically
    in order to cope with pests or to become more productive. Notwithstanding, in the
    last forty years the perspective has begun to change. As for the role of the
    forestry structures integrated in farming cultivations or in animal farming, it
    has been better and better understood and implemented.


    According
    to the European Association for Agroforestry Systems, EURAF, in Europe there
    are more than 8 million hectares cultivated according to that method. The trees
    provide wood for constructions or energy, they also provide edible fruits,
    shade and food for the livestock. Concurrently, trees stabilize the soil, also
    balancing its chemical composition, they offer protection for cultivations
    against the weather or pests, they purify the air and preserve the quality of
    waters in a given surface area. Forests or shelterbelts support farming cultivations,
    render them more productive and increase their resilience towards climate change.
    Our research is, we hope, one first step we have taken towards a large-scale development
    of Romanian agroforestry, according to the specialists working for the Forest
    of Tomorrow Foundation. The project’s head researcher is Mihai Enescu, a senior
    lecturer with Bucharest’s University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary
    medicine:


    Mihai Enescu:

    We have a plot of land we have divided into 20 square-shaped farm
    parcels with a 24-meter-long leg, where we will plant both common forestry species,
    such as the oak-tree, the ash-tree, the Sycamore maple, the maple-tree, and many
    others, but also some that are less used in Romania today. These are mainly xerophyte
    species, resistant to the droughty conditions, indigenous species, such as the
    downy oak, or allochthonous species, with origins in other countries, such as
    the honey locust or the Siberian elm. We will also plant fruit-bearing shrubs.
    Here, behind me, we can already see the European red raspberry, densely cultivated.
    We will also plant blackberry trees, but also agricultural species, on our farm
    parcels. There will be parcels with corn and sunflower, with various densities
    and modern technologies. We will also test other suggestions that have already
    had good results in countries located mainly in central and western Europe,
    that is farther afield. We shall also come up with irrigated rows, unirrigated
    rows, fertilized rows, unfertilized rows, so they can respond to more than twenty
    research questions. I place my stakes on fast results, well, not for the very
    first year, but for years two, three and four, as it is a project with a
    four-year duration. I’m counting on results that are at least interesting, results
    we can’t wait to promote.


    The
    eventual aim of the project is the compilation of a good practice guide, or the
    use of Romanian farmers and forest workers. A handbook teaching people working
    in the field how to use agroforestry systems in our country, at once taking the
    local specificity into account, explaining what species goes with what species,
    where, when and how, and what the effects of that are.

  • Inter-war botanist Alexandru Borza

    Inter-war botanist Alexandru Borza

    Nature has been viewed, in the past
    two and a half centuries, as the cradle of humankind, of the individual human
    being, of their families and of the nation. Nature has become a cult of the modern
    man; therefore, plants, animals, air, water or stones have also become an
    object of study for naturalists. In
    Romania, priest Alexandru Borza was one of the most important botanists. He was
    born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1887 and died in Romania in 1971, at the
    age of 84.


    Borza’s educational background was a little bit unusual
    for a scientist. Borza graduated from a Catholic theological seminary, then he
    pursued a university program
    with the Faculty of Sciences in Budapest. At the age of 26, Borza earned his
    doctoral degree in natural sciences, in 1913. Until 1918, when the Romanian-inhabited
    territories that had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were included in then
    the Kingdom of Romania, Borza was a teacher of natural sciences with the boys’ high-school in Blaj. After 1918, Borza’s career became increasingly
    effervescent. Among other things, Borza was a rector of the University of Cluj,
    a director of the Cluj Botanical gardens and a scientific director of the Nature
    Monuments Commission. Alexandru Borza discovered more than 80 species of plants,
    while other 20 were named in his honor. Alexandru Borza published around
    500 texts and an ethnobotanic dictionary of Romania, with 11 common names for 2,
    095 species of plants and also supervised the issuing of nine scientific periodicals.
    Alexandru Borza was involved in strong awareness-raising campaigns regarding
    the importance of nature in people’s lives through the articles he contributed
    to the printed press, through pamphlets, public or radio-broadcast conferences.
    Borza also made a leap forward, from the research of nature to the anthropological-folkloric
    and eugenic research.


    The fact that the Romanian
    specialists participated in the Fourth Botany Congress in New York, in 1926,
    gave them an impetus in their involvement in the defense of the environment. Here
    is the historian Cosmin Koszor-Codrea explaining how the American model also
    inspired the Romanians in their subsequent undertakings:

    In 1926, the 4th International Botanical Congress
    was held in New York, which gathered botanists from around the world. Borza was
    also present and delivered a paper on insular flowers in the ecology section. Beside
    the daily presentation sessions, the daily agenda included visits to the botanical
    garden, excursions to the natural division of the Yellowstone natural park,
    Niagara Falls and Rocky Mountains. After he returned to Romania he planned,
    together with the zoologist Popovici-Dimbosanu the first Romanian National
    Congress of Naturists, to be held in Cluj, in 1928. Here they gathered, on the
    same agenda, secondary school teachers, representatives of Hungarian, Romanian,
    and German alpine associations, officials and living scientists of the period.
    Amongst their aims there were many resolutions, the participants pushed forward
    on the political agenda the reorganization of the natural history teaching
    program in secondary schools, the recognition of the fact that the Danube Delta
    is an ecological region, a region rich in bird species, and that the Retezat
    Mountains should become a national park.


    The following steps were the logical consequences of
    the assumed objectives. With details on that, here is Cosmin Koszor-Codrea once again:


    The Ministry of Agriculture and Domains, based on
    their proposals, enacted in 1930 the Law of the protection of natural monuments.
    The following year, the Royal Decree officially recognized the existence of the
    Commission of Natural Monuments. In doing so, the law written by the commission
    defined the following, QUOTE, the monuments of nature are those lands which,
    due to the inhabitancy of animals and plants, have a special scientific and aesthetical
    importance, as well as those which, through their natural beauty, scientific
    interest, are meaning to be conserved and passed over to posterity. Within the
    protection law fall also animals and plant species, as well as rocks, minerals
    and fossils, UNQUOTE.


    The history of the Retezat Nature Park,
    founded in 1935, is proudly linked to the name of Alexandru Borza. There the preservation
    of nature was taken to its highest, thanks to the involvement of the state and
    the regulations that were put in place. In 1939, in The Carpathians magazine,
    Borza published a list of 17 protected plant species. Among them, the
    rhododendron, the Edelweiss and the white Egyptian lotus. Cosmin Koszor-Codrea told
    us the ecologists focused on the Retezat
    Massif the right from the
    start.


    The first region that matched this definition was the Retezat
    Mountains, due to its unique geological formation, its fauna and flora, as well
    as the answer it gave to the Romanian national identity. In the words of Borza,
    QUOTE, The Retezat is, from all points of view, a holy land for science, is a sacred
    monument of nature that has no comparison to other massifs in Romania. That is
    why all our naturalists are considering it predestined by nature to become our
    natural park, the Yellowstone of Romania. Here the young will carry the patriotic
    education, they will feel in these mountains the air of freedom, that as
    inherited by the Dacian king Decebalus, while it will feed their hearts with
    pride by knowing this piece of land as something unique, in its own way, as a
    symbol of our natural health, UNQUOTE.


    Alexandru Borza was one of the most
    prominent names of environment protection in inter-war Romania. Borza was also
    one of the scientists who supported the necessity of Romanians’ being taught
    basic natural history notions as part of the Romanian nation’s specific characteristics.



  • Invasive plant species in Romania

    In recent years, invasion of eco-systems by alien
    species has become a major problem in many parts of the world. Apart from the
    expanding human activities, climate change also affects the intrusion of such
    species and their spread in new territories, leading to the disruption of
    habitats.




    The
    situation is so critical that the European Parliament and EU Council found it
    necessary to put together a Regulation to prevent and manage the introduction and
    overpopulation of such species. According to the document, the presence of alien
    species, whether animals, plants, or microorganisms, in a natural environment
    where they are not normally found, is not always a reason for concern. However,
    a significant part of these alien species may become invasive, with serious
    negative consequences on biodiversity and habitats, as well as other social and
    economic effects that must be prevented.




    Around
    12,000 species in Europe are alien, and 10% to 15% of them are estimated to be
    invasive. The threat they pose takes various forms, including a negative impact
    on local species and on the structure and functioning of ecosystems by altering
    habitats and competition among species, by transmitting diseases, by replacing
    local species and hybridisation. Moreover, invasive alien species may also have
    a significant impact on human health and economy.




    The
    same situation is to be found in Romania as well, where the environment
    watchdog Conservation Carpathia found 6 invasive alien plant species in the
    south-east of the Făgăraș Mountains, alongside water courses. The organisation
    is taking steps to eliminate these species, as biologist Oliviu Pop told us:




    Oliviu
    Pop    : These invasive plants, which are
    in fact invasive alien species, appear in natural habitats that are degraded or
    abandoned, such as abandoned fields or meadows or areas where waste has been
    dumped. In time, they spread and eliminate the native species in those areas,
    in other words they reduce biodiversity. These invasive plants gradually
    eliminate valuable species, rare protected species or fodder plants. Recent climate
    changes, more and more substantial, also help such alien species take control. As
    their name suggests, these are species introduced, either accidentally or
    deliberately, in the respective areas.




    Conservation
    Carpathia focuses on protecting nature, on reconstructing the areas affected in
    the past by excessive forest harvesting, for example, and on restoring balance
    in nature. To this end, a scientific study, coordinated by Oliviu Pop, has been
    conducted along the main water courses and their tributaries in the southern
    part of the Făgăraș Mountains. Based on the findings of this scientific
    research, Conservation Carpathia put together an action plan, under which this
    summer it organised actions to eliminate invasive alien plant species, together
    with Romanian and foreign employees and volunteers.




    Only
    environment-friendly methods have been used, such as close cutting or uprooting.
    These activities will carry on for several years, until the spread of such
    species along the water courses included in the project has been reduced by at
    least 50%. Here is Oliviu Pop once again:




    Oliviu
    Pop    : We are currently implementing a project
    to rebuild natural habitats, which includes both the habitats in riparian
    areas, which are the most severely affected by human activities, and the
    reconstruction of forests and shrubbery in the alpine area. Apart from planting
    or replanting species that are native in these riparian areas, we are trying in
    certain places to eliminate the invasive species. We started out by making an
    inventory of the species along 165 km of river valleys, and then, together with
    our employees and volunteers, we gradually managed to eliminate some of the invasive
    species in those riparian habitats, on approx. 37 km. And now we are trying to
    monitor and see what happens, how such new species appear, while at the same working
    to restore these habitats, to replant the willows and alder, which are specific
    to these areas.




    Oliviu
    Pop also warns that some invasive alien species have flowers and may seem
    beautiful, as a decorative species, but in ecologic terms they are still
    harmful. This topic, hardly ever discussed in the past, will be of growing
    importance in the years to come, and actions such as the ones run by Conservation
    Carpathia will be increasingly frequent at national and European level, the
    environmental organisation predicts. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Romania’s national riches

    Romania’s national riches


    The Romanian forests for many centuries now, have been a safe and most welcoming haven for the brown bears. According to World
    Wild Fund Romania, around 18,000 specimens can still be found in Europe; more
    than 8,000 of them live in the Carpathian Mountains, while 6,000 can still be
    found on today’s territory of Romania. It is the largest brown bear population
    in Europe. World Wild Fund Romania’s Livia Cimpoeru is the organization’s PR
    expert, specializing in large carnivores. Livia Cimpoeru:


    The bear is one of Romania’s natural
    riches. That is something we cannot ignore and I think everyone agrees to the fact
    that these natural riches need to be protected, because they can become extinct
    and we somehow must take the responsibility for our actions, as what we consume
    or what we do affects the well-being and the viability of such natural
    resources.


    The transport infrastructure, the urban one or the one
    in the rural regions, has developed sensibly in recent years. The natural
    resources, such as the mushrooms or the forest fruit have been overexploited:
    no wonder then that the omnivore bear has been drawn to the areas where food was
    easy to grab, that is to the areas populated by humans. Accordingly, some of
    the bears become a threat to the community; many people think they should be
    killed. But that is preposterous… according to Livia Cimpoeru.
    World Wild Fund Romania’s philosophy to that effect says that
    striking a balance between man and animal is perfectly possible. Livia Cimpoeru:


    Such a balance could be provided only
    when we are capable of understanding, as a nation, as a people inhabiting this
    territory which has been blessed thanks to its extraordinary biodiversity, we
    are the only ones, let me just say that once again, we are the only ones who
    can protect such riches. As long as we lay the blame entirely on the bear or
    the wolf or on other animals, for the human being-fauna conflict, we’re not
    getting anywhere. The bear is a wild animal, he cannot tell the good from the
    bad, so he cannot take decisions, he cannot initiate all sorts of policies and
    suchlike. WE are the thinking species, the ones capable of being intelligent in
    tackling such, how shall I put it, inconveniences or conflicts, so that solutions
    can be found. Our activities have an obvious impact on the bears and the
    overwhelming majority of the man-bear conflict are caused by the man.


    The European Union’s Habitats Directive protects the
    bears, which are included on the list of protected animals that cannot be
    hunted down for pleasure purposes or for trophy hunting, as they say. However,
    in some of the Union’s countries, Romania included, hunting aficionados resort
    to the Directive’s Article 16 which stipulates several waivers regarding the
    hunting of a limited number of specimens, mainly of those that are dangerous to
    humans.


    Arthur, arguably the king of bears in Romania, has
    recently been shot. The news of the killing of an animal whose dimensions and demeanor were
    impressive has become viral across the planet. According to many people, in
    Romania, the faulty way in which the national authorities protect those mammals
    at the farther end of the trophic chain has yet again resurfaced as a problem
    that still needs to be solved. Actually, Arthur may have been shot down during
    a trophy-hunting party. A waiver was allegedly issued, for the killing of a
    different specimen that did a lot of damage to human households. Such practices
    must become past history…but what needs to be done for that? World Wide Fund
    Romania’s Livia Cimpoeru:


    We, ever since 2009 and all throughout
    the following years, have called for an improvement in the legislation whereby
    such waivers are issued for the relocation and the harvesting (it is the technical
    word used when bears are shot) ʺas ever since such waiver executive orders have
    been issued, beginning 2017, if I’m not mistaken, orders did not specify what
    would become of the bear carcasses, who was in involved in the process of
    harvesting or relocation, what the destination was or who the end beneficiary was, of those shot animals. In
    2019, we officially demanded that, in the action of harvesting no people
    should be involved other than the technical staff, so that suspicions of
    harvesting being a trophy hunting in disguise may not exist. And then again, we
    also demanded that those problem-specimens be branded and actively monitor so
    that no suspicion whatsoever may exist, related to the extraction of the
    troubleshooter specimen. And Arthur is a blatant case in point. Again, we don’t
    understand why, for so many years now, rapid intervention teams have not been
    set up, for those areas where the bear population is obviously significant, As
    we speak, we do not have a real monitoring of the bear population in Romania,
    based on scientific research, we do not even have a monitoring of the habituated
    bear population, which, in our jargon, designates the bears that, because of
    human negligence, have associated the human beings with their source of food,
    and in time, they repeatedly worked their way through to the areas inhabited by
    humans.

    Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the Arthur scandal,
    the Environment Ministry in Bucharest has made public the fact that the
    legislation has been changed, focusing on the shooting of bears posing a threat
    for the communities. According to the previous legislation, a 60-day grace
    period was officially allowed, from the issuing of the papers endorsing the
    harvesting to its implementation. Moreover, the legislation did not clearly
    stipulate who was officially allowed to shoot the animal. According to the
    recently-changed legislation, no more than 15 days are allowed for the
    extraction of the dangerous specimens, while that can only be done by the
    technical staff of the association for which the waiver was issued. However,
    Livia Cimpoeru says, the decision is welcome, but insufficient. Livia Cimpoeru:

    Apart from such measures, which are
    merely face-saving, I daresay, hastily taken to cool down the public opinion,
    other measures need to be taken so that, longer term, we can have a harmonious co-habitation with the bear. And
    by that I also mean the implementation action, the financial support for
    farmers or households in the bear-populated areas, so that those people could
    afford buying electric fences, watchdogs, capable of protecting their
    livestock, their households and suchlike. The pack of measures was made public
    last year by the former minister Costel Alexe, and we were extremely happy when
    he announced the ministry would launch a financing program for such prevention
    measures, but that never happened and we don’t understand why.


    Also according to World Wild Fund Romania, the
    Ministry of the Environment has sufficient data they could start from, in a bid
    to elaborate maps of the risk areas that can be made available to specialists,
    local administrations and the lay public, so that these entities can have a
    clear image of the areas with the most serious problems. World Wild Fund Romania is also part of an international
    project Euro Large Carnivores, a project with European funding, whereby the
    co-habitation can be improved, between human beings and animals, through cross-border cooperation and communication.