The Environment Ministry has failed to implement the National Bear Population Conservation Plan

Agent Green calls for Minister Tanczos Barna’s dismissal

The Environment Ministry has failed to ensure the conservation of the bear population and the safety of citizens and their property because it has not implemented what was stipulated, approved, publicly debated and undertaken through Romania’s 2018 National Action Plan for the Conservation of the Brown Bear Population.

→ http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocumentAfis/203513

“Minister Tanczos Barna is skipping all the stages of this approved plan, which he is violating, and is promoting shooting, rapidly taking Romania towards infringement proceedings,” warns Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.

The National Action Plan provides for coexistence measures included in a ministerial order in 2019 that Minister Tanczos Barna blocked this year. The “Coexistence” programme was to have been financed through the Environmental Fund Administration (AFM) and includes direct support for farmers to equip themselves with means of protection against bears. Here are some of the obligations undertaken by the ministry and published in the Official Gazette:

1. a) ensuring reliable data as scientific support for decision-making,
2. b) maintaining a stable bear population,
3. c) protecting specific natural habitats and their quality,
4. d) maintaining natural behaviour and avoiding the habituation/conditioning of bears,
5. e) preventing and reducing conflicts,
6. f) ensuring ecological connectivity within the species’ distribution range nationally and regionally,
7. g) informing and raising awareness among the local population,
8. h) involving stakeholders in decision-making,
9. i) improving legislation and ensuring the implementation of and compliance with legal provisions,
10. j) integrating bear population conservation measures into other sectors of activity,
11. k) increasing institutional capacity and cooperation between the responsible authorities/institutions.

All these obligations fall to the Environment Ministry, which must ensure that the legislative framework is supplemented/amended and that the tools needed to implement the national action plan are provided.

Minister Barna has also not approved the operation of specialised rapid-response teams for capturing and relocating bears. “At present, we do not have enough trained and equipped personnel for rapid interventions. There are no more than 3 cages in the whole country, and the authorities are trying to drive bears away with flashing lights and vuvuzelas. They are not equipped with non-lethal weapons, for example rubber bullets, which effectively drive bears away,” Păun stated.

The Environment Ministry has failed to absorb 10 million euros through the POIM programme – Axis 4, for implementing bear conservation measures, which must be completed by 2023.

Last but not least, the Environment Ministry has failed to apply the European Council’s request to avoid supplementary feeding of wild animals, especially bears, because such practices lead to the species’ habituation, excessive population growth that the habitat cannot support, and inevitable human-bear conflicts.

→ https://rm.coe.int/recommendation-on-the-use-of-artificial-feeding-as-a-management-tool-o/16808e4cad

Because of its failure to implement the national action plan and numerous other failings, Agent Green launched a petition on 20 June for Minister Tanczos Barna’s dismissal.

→ https://campaniamea.declic.ro/p/TanczosBarnaDemis