The Danube Delta is, without doubt, part of Europe’s world-famous natural heritage, and this blog has covered stories from the Danube from time to time. Not least because we, here at the RSPB, have been supporting our colleagues and partners in the Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR – BirdLife Romania) in their campaign to protect the Delta from damaging developments.
Looking back, the last post was as long ago as July 2011 – reporting on a new law bringing protection of the Delta in line with European Union (EU) legislation. That law came into force in September 2011.
It’s difficult to understand exactly why it took the Romanian government so long to realise that the amazing wildlife of the Danube Delta, including Imperial eagles, Dalmatian pelicans and great snipe; red-breasted geese, pallid harriers and European rollers, needed to be protected. Particularly as it is this very wildlife that attracts in tourists from across the world, eager to see the natural wonders of the Delta.
As well as campaigning for the new Danube Delta law to be fully implemented, SOR is still campaigning to halt and remove tourist developments which have destroyed over 5 ha of priceless dune habitats at Sulina, on the Danube Delta coast. We now hear from Marina Cazacu, our SOR colleague working in the Delta, that further, larger, development is planned next to the existing illegal site.
There really doesn’t need to be such stark and unnecessary conflict between tourist developments and the natural wonders of the area. Sulina’s dunes have been bulldozed to make way for chalets and restaurants that would be much better placed a few miles inland in Sulina town, which is crying out for inward investment.
Damaged dunes as tourism kills the golden goose
In failing to follow proper procedures when planning these developments, the Romanian authorities have built these developments in the wrong place, and, by trashing the dune habitats that are such an attractive feature of this coast, they are effectively killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
This is why the Romanian authorities are still in the European Commission’s sights. So far the Commission has not yet pressed the button on court action, but we’re working with SOR to persuade them to make this final step, so that we can get this poorly thought-out development removed and encourage the Romanian authorities to consider how to provide sustainable tourism facilities instead.
The role of the EU is very much in the public eye in the UK at the moment and as the deeply held arguments ebb and flow, what is being largely ignored is the vital role the nature directives (the EU laws that protect the natural environment) play in saving nature. They are rooted in the history of the founding of the Common Market where clear-sighted legislators were determined that member states could not sneak a competitive advantage by trashing their natural environment – a role that is as vital today and in whatever the future holds for the EU. Here’s the RSPB’s Conservation Director on that very subject.
Follow me on twitter.