Maramures, Romania

Problems

• Romania´s accession to the EU in 2007 includes threats and opportunities. For example, since accession, small subsistence farming has become less sustainable. In many cases, local dairy production (from both sheep and cows) now fails to meet EU standards (meant to improve product quality) on hygiene and animal welfare. The result is that many farms have closed and the population of Bruna de Maramures cows decreased dramatically. Many traditional grazing activities and their beneficial impacts for semi-managed grasslands and their rich biodiversity have also therefore ended.

• Difficult local economic conditions are forcing poorer residents to exploit the few opportunities they see as open to them, many of which are resource-based such as the illegal felling of trees for timber. One result is a loss of pristine forest.

• Rapid economic and social changes, and the desire for quick profits, have pushed many land owners and users to undertake potentially lucrative activities that negatively impact the environment (e.g. fragmentation of forests for ski slope development or transforming grazing fields into golf courses).

• Many large companies have closed down recently, including a dairy company in Baia Mare and local mines.

• Locals do not perceive wetlands as having any value such as for possibly generating additional income (e.g. via tourism), ecological services (e.g. floodwater retention) or as habitat for interesting flora (e.g. carnivorous plants from the glacier era), mainly because of a lack of understanding and education.