Tag: the Danube

  • The Danube water level on the rise

    The Danube water level on the rise

    Scores of people have been killed and reported missing in Central and Eastern Europe recently affected by Storm Boris. Although heavy rains ceased, swollen waters are still threatening various locations in the region, which is bearing the brunt of the latest flooding, which has also caused billions of Euros in material damage.

    According to the first expert estimates, in Romania the total damage would exceed one billion Euros. Others believe the figures are optimistic and the actual damage is double or even triple.

    A World Bank survey last year put the average damage caused by floods in Romania at roughly 1.7 billion Euros. Seven people have been killed and 65 thousand households affected by Storm Boris this year.

    The collective trauma is lingering and many are now fearing the rising level of Europe’s largest river, the Danube, caused by the heavy rainfalls and its many tributaries.

    The Danube’s rising level is not expected to cause issues to those in charge of its handling – Environment Minister Mircea Fechet said. According to him, a similar level was successfully handled in January this year and in December 2023.

    The Minister and Romanian Waters experts have flown by helicopter over the areas facing a higher flooding risk. According to expert estimates, the Danube’s level for the period between September 29 and 30 is expected to hit 79-80 hundred cubic meters per second. We recall that the river caused flooding in Romania in 2006, but its level at that time stood at more than 15 thousand cubic meters per second.

    Mircea Fechet: “According to the information made available by my colleagues, we aren’t going to have any problems whatsoever in Romania.   The flood peak in Budapest was lower than expected, about 500 cubic meters per second, which means that for the period we are going to see this peak in Romania, on September 28 or 29, forecasts have diminished from the initial ones standing at 95 hundred meters.”

    According to the latest data gleaned, the risk of serious issues on the Romanian sector of the Danube, is low, the Romanian Waters spokeswoman, Ana-Maria Agiu told Radio Romania. In turn, the president of Hydroelectrica board of directors, Karoly Borbely, said that the Danube’s rising level can be safely handled by Romania’s water installations. Mr. Borbely has also added that higher water levels also mean a significant electricity output.

    (bill)

  • Eco-tourism in Romania

    Eco-tourism in Romania

    Romania is known, among other things, because of its
    vast and virgin forests, because of the areas where tradition is still unspoiled
    and where we find craftsmen who still work handicraft objects using techniques
    and following patterns that have been handed down to them from one generation
    to the next. In all this landscape there are associations that have been
    striving to preserve the natural values and provide education focusing on responsible
    tourism. Today we will find out what exactly eco-tourism entails. Our guide is
    advocacy expert and Greener Association coordinator, Loredana Pana.

    Loredana Pana:


    It entails the activities we can do when we are
    on holiday, yet we do such activities with a significantly less strong impact
    on the environment we visit, Tourism, as a rule, can do a lot of damage to the
    visited places. The great inflow of tourists, the flight, everything we consume
    while on holiday, all that takes its toll on the tourist destinations. When we
    intend to do eco-tourism or slow tourism, as it is known, we visit certain
    areas, bearing in mind the impact we can have on nature. For instance, we do not
    use motorized vehicles when on holiday or we spend as much time as we can in
    the same area and eat the local produce and not those brought from afar, as the
    latter have a strong carbon imprint. Practically, we need to think as much as
    we can about the impact we have in a given community and what we live behind
    us. The eco-routes are ecotourism itineraries we can take by foot, by bicycle,
    by water, using a kayak, on horseback, so it’s about non-motorized means of
    transport.

    Luckily, in Romania, quite a few of the areas around the
    country are not very developed, so they somehow are in a natural condition
    which is closer to eco-tourism. Notwithstanding, according to Greener
    Association’s Loredana Pana, ecotourism should work according to a sound legal
    framework.


    Loredana Pana:

    Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a
    tendency or an encouraging trend at legislative and national level to support
    such eco-tourism destinations and I think we have the opportunity to do it
    since we’re still at the beginning, yet such destinations should be promoted
    more often.

    Ecotourism Destination is a concept that has
    been developed since 2012 by the Central Public Tourism Authority, in
    partnership with nationwide representative institutions and organizations. At
    that time, Romania was Europe’s first country to have launched such a
    recognition system of the ecotourism destinations. As we speak, there are seven
    officially recognized eco-tourism destinations. However, advocacy expert and Greener
    Association coordinator, Loredana Pana, invites us to explore an area which, even
    though it has not been officially recognized as such, can be the perfect
    destination for those who want to do green tourism.


    Loredana Pana :

    I will
    recommend, right now, the areas along the river Danube. We have many projects
    involving river Danube and the Danube Delta. The Danube Delta is an
    extraordinarily beautiful area it is a UNESCO world heritage site, it is unique
    around the world, thanks to the landscape the Danube forms as it flows into the
    Black Sea. We still have villages that are not touristic. I should like to
    recommend to your listeners to take a couple of days off and have boat rides,
    slowly, with as small boats as possible, and spend as much time as they can in
    those villages of the Danube Delta, being in direct contact with the local
    community. I don’t recommend that we go to a resort, which is somehow separated
    from the entire local community. The Danube Delta is a unique example from the
    viewpoint of multiculturality. There are over 12 ethnic groups living in the
    Danube Delta and Dobrogea and they are a good example of good practice as they
    have preserved their traditions and lived together for such a long time.


    The Greener Association has this week launched the
    Danube Eco-route.


    Loredana Pana :

    This is actually an idea we are going to
    continue to work on. It’s a 44-kilometre-long route on land and water
    around the city of Giurgiu. The route includes the city of Giurgiu and other
    four communes, Slobozia, Oinacu, Prundu and Gostinu. These 44 kilometres can be
    covered on bicycle, on foot or on horseback. It is important that we should not
    go there by cars or other motorized vehicles but enjoy the tranquility of
    nature and the fresh air. We have proposed this eco-route because we need green
    areas to use for entertainment and our psychological welfare, so to say. It is
    at one hour distance from Bucharest, a marvelous area the Danube creates in
    this region. In the south, for instance, there are no entertainment facilities
    on the Danube, like we have in the Delta, or where the Danube enters Romania,
    for instance.


    For those who want more centralized information
    concerning the access to this route, the Greener Association has a project in
    place.


    Loredana Pana:

    By the end of the year we want to
    create a virtual map with this Danube eco-route as it is important for people
    to have all the information they need, how to get access, how good the road is,
    if they can bring their children along etc. And we want to make that map
    public. I invite you to follow us at maimultverde.ro and on our social
    networks. We are going to post all the information than we can glean by the end
    of the year.


    Loredana Pană, expert advocacy and project coordinator
    with the Greener Association, has also met an increasing number of foreign
    tourists who have appreciated the lack of human intervention in these wild
    areas.


    Loredana Pana:

    Trekking routes through the mountain
    wilderness have been much appreciated. Transylvania with all that it has to
    offer is also very appreciated. Bucharest has become a travel destination for
    city breaks. And from the viewpoint of the environment and ecology, we have
    been running a new programme in Bucharest since last year. It is called
    ‘Outdoor’ and through it we are trying to promote the city’s less-known green
    areas to its citizens. There are also wild green areas, where people don’t have
    access at present, such as the lakes on the Colentina river. Back in the 60s,
    there were lots and lots of swimming pools there in what was dubbed as ‘the
    seaside of Bucharest’. Not anymore nowadays, you know. Bucharest can also
    become an eco-tourist attraction for Europe although we are quite far from this
    objective at the moment and there is no strategy to bring us to that
    direction


    However, there is an increasing tendency to come back
    to nature in the Romanian tourism and from this point of view the offer is very
    diversified. (EN & bill)