National parks and protected areas

NATIONAL PARKS ARE UNDER SIEGE. THE SITUATION IS COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL

• logging takes precedence over protection and conservation. Large-scale commercial logging serves big companies, while local communities do not have enough wood even for heating
• logging takes place even in virgin, centuries-old and naturally structured forests within national parks
• Romania’s national parks do not follow international scientific recommendations (IUCN), either in the core non-intervention zones (which are too small and scattered) or in buffer zones (where large-scale commercial logging takes place)

The Romanian Carpathians exhibit a markedly lower state of degradation than before becoming national parks. In practice, the current national-park management plans are actually plans for the exploitation and systematic degradation of intact forest ecosystems. In parks without approved management plans, there is total chaos. Logging takes place even in nature reserves within national parks.

WHAT ARE NATIONAL PARKS IN ROMANIA?

• National parks are protected natural areas whose objectives are the protection and conservation of territories representative of the national biogeographical space, encompassing natural features of outstanding physical-geographical, floristic, faunal, hydrological, geological, palaeontological, speleological, soil or other value, and offering opportunities for scientific, educational, recreational and tourist visits.

• National-park management should ensure the maintenance of the physical-geographical setting in its natural state, protection of ecosystems, conservation of genetic resources and biological diversity under conditions of ecological stability, and prevention and exclusion of any exploitation of natural resources and land uses incompatible with the assigned purpose. Within national parks, only traditional activities practised solely by communities in the national-park area are allowed, to be regulated by the management plan.

• National parks correspond to IUCN category II, “National park: a protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation”.

*Extract from Emergency Ordinance 25/2007

WHAT IS IUCN AND WHAT DOES IT RECOMMEND TO THE WORLD’S COUNTRIES REGARDING NATIONAL PARKS?

• IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is an international organisation founded in October 1948, dedicated to conserving natural resources in 1948, and based in Switzerland, in Gland on the shores of Lake Geneva. IUCN brings together 83 states, 108 government agencies, 766 non-governmental organisations and around 10,000 experts and scientists from countries around the world.

• IUCN is the best-known system for classifying protected areas, partially adopted with modifications in Romania too. Following discussions and consultations in this field, six categories of protected areas were established in the ’90s, categories currently valid worldwide:

1. Category Ia – strict nature reserve (scientific reserve in Romania)

Category Ib – wilderness area (this category does not exist in Romania)

2. Category II – national park (the same in Romania)

3. Category III – distinctive natural monument (natural monument)

4. Category IV – habitat/species management area (nature reserve in Romania)

5. Category V – protected landscape / seascape. (nature park in Romania)

6. Category VI – protected area with sustainable use of natural resources (this category does not exist in Romania)

Category II: National park

Definition: Category II protected areas are large natural or near-natural areas established to protect large-scale ecological processes, together with the species and ecosystems characteristic of the area, which also provide a foundation for environmentally and culturally compatible spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational or tourist visits.

Primary objective

• To protect natural biodiversity together with its underlying ecological structure and supporting environmental processes, and to promote education and recreation.

Other objectives:

• To manage the area so as to perpetuate, in as natural a state as possible, representative examples of physiographic regions, biotic communities, genetic resources and undisturbed natural processes;

• To maintain viable and ecologically functional populations and assemblages of native species at densities sufficient to conserve ecosystem integrity and long-term resilience;

• To contribute in particular to conserving wide-ranging species, regional ecological processes and migration routes;

• To manage visitor use for inspirational, educational, cultural and recreational purposes at a level that does not cause significant biological or ecological degradation of natural resources;

• To take account of the needs of indigenous peoples and local communities, including subsistence resource use, insofar as this does not adversely affect the primary management objective;

• To contribute to local economies through tourism.

• Distinctive characteristics: Category II areas are usually large and conserve a functioning “ecosystem”, although achieving this may require the protected area to be complemented by appropriate management of surrounding areas.

• The area should contain representative examples of major natural regions and biological, environmental or landscape features where native plant and animal species, habitats and geodiversity sites have special spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational or tourist significance.

• The area must have sufficient size and ecological quality to maintain ecological functions and processes that allow native species and communities to persist in the long term with minimal management intervention.

• The composition, structure and function of biodiversity must be largely in a “natural” state or have the potential to return to it, with a relatively low risk of invasion by non-native species.

APPLYING THE IUCN PROTECTED-AREA CATEGORIES

The primary management objective should be applicable to at least three quarters of the protected area.

The primary objective must apply to at least three quarters of the protected area – the 75-percent RULE: many protected areas may have specific zones within them where other uses are allowed, for example:

• Tourist lodges and campsites in category II national parks – as in many protected areas in the African savannas;

• Villages remaining in strictly protected areas – for example, a village remaining within Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam;

• Small zones of full and strict protection within a cultural landscape managed under category V – for example, the forests owned by the National Trust in Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, United Kingdom;

• Zones where fishing is allowed within what would otherwise be strictly protected marine or freshwater areas – for example, in Kosi Bay Nature Reserve in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

IUCN recognises these cases and recommends that up to 25 percent of the land or water in a protected area may be managed for other purposes, as long as these are compatible with the area’s primary objective. In some cases, the 25 percent may shift: for example, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda allows local communities to gather medicinal plants and other non-timber forest products in specially designated zones that change from time to time so that species are not collected too intensively.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS REGARDING NATIONAL PARKS:

• Commercial logging is incompatible with and not allowed in category II national parks.
• Only interventions (not to be understood as logging) at the park’s edge to prevent/combat diseases in forest ecosystems that may spread into private forests are allowed.
• In the event of natural disasters or infestations, no human interventions take place, because nature knows best how to protect itself and evolve naturally. Human interventions most often create new ecosystem imbalances.
• In all developed or underdeveloped countries, national parks are a source of pride and a driver of tourism development, making a significant financial contribution to local and regional communities.
• In most countries, national parks serve to protect natural resources in their entirety, and commercial logging is prohibited.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ROMANIA’S NATIONAL PARKS?

• There are 13 designated national parks of national interest, covering 1.33% of the country’s territory and 3.31% of its forested area: Călimani, Cheile Bicazului – Hășmaș, Munții Rodnei, Piatra Craiului, Cozia, Buila Vânturarița, Retezat, Defileul Jiului, Domogled – Valea Cernei, Semenic – Cheile Carașului, Nera – Beușnița, Ceahlău and Munții Măcinului. Of these, Cozia is the most forested park, while Retezat has the smallest forest area, with more than half consisting of alpine grasslands and glacial areas. Forests in Romania’s national parks cover a total of 233,892.78 hectares, or 0.99% of the country’s territory.

• Only one national park (Defileul Jiului) is managed as a national park by applying the primary objective to at least 75%, in accordance with national legislation and the IUCN management category.

• All national parks show a trend of accelerated ecosystem degradation, logging of virgin and old-growth forests, habitat fragmentation and soil erosion.

• In most national parks, the urbanisation of areas for buildings, roads and networks has been expanded and legalised.

• Commercial logging takes place in several parks, even within reserves.

• Non-intervention zones are established on about 50% of a park’s area, scattered and without forming a core zone; they generally include rocky areas, young forests and grasslands; they exclude virgin and old-growth forests so that these can be logged.

• Management plans and internal zoning were produced through the influence, pressure and decisions of officials with logging interests in RNP Romsilva (for example, Domogled-Valea Cernei and Cheile Nerei-Beușnița national parks), or through the influence of private landowners – the Carpathia Foundation (for example, Piatra Craiului National Park).

• In some parks, the administrators themselves (RNP-Romsilva) have initiated steps to abolish or relocate reserves within national parks.

• National-park administrations are economic operators (autonomous public enterprises) whose main activity is: 0210 Silviculture and other forestry activities.

• The administrations are underfunded, uncoordinated nationally, with inconsistent practices and low efficiency in conservation and resource use.

• Endorsement or visiting fees are charged arbitrarily/differently, affecting competition among economic operators working in parks.

• The administrations’ activities lack transparency and are abusive in many situations.

• The boundaries of national parks and reserves have been drawn/changed according to economic and political interests rather than scientific criteria.

• Local communities do not benefit from commercially harvested timber, which most often goes to foreign processing companies that over the past 15 years have developed timber-processing capacities exceeding the volume that can legally be harvested nationally

• Numerous areas of Romania could, on scientific grounds, have been designated national parks (the Țarcu Mountains, Făgăraș Mountains, etc.), yet they are not even considered, with scientific justification proposals rejected by the Ministry of Environment on political grounds. Although the Romanian Academy endorsed them.

Călimani National Park

Domogled – Valea Cernei National Park

Virgin forests in the Țarcu Mountains

Semenic – Cheile Carașului National Park

THE OBJECTIVES OF AGENT GREEN’S CAMPAIGN

• Apply the purpose and primary non-intervention objective in accordance with national legislation and the criteria and recommendations of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

• Transfer unified and effective administration of all national parks to the State within ANANP (the National Agency for Protected Natural Areas).

• Fund national-park administration from the State budget, under Emergency Ordinance 57/2007, Article 30 (2)

• Adjust national-park boundaries on scientific grounds to include adjacent virgin/centuries-old forests or entire ecosystems (for example, Coșava Mică in Semenic or Câmpușel in Retezat)

• Computerise protected-area administration and management using the SINCRON application

• Restructure Scientific Councils so that they consist exclusively of independent researchers and university academics with moral integrity

• Identify funding sources for the Romanian State to purchase private land in national parks where owners voluntarily wish to sell it

• Grant compensation to private owners of forests and grasslands in national parks

• Incorporate the IUCN categories into national legislation as formulated, along with other recommendations from international organisations

• Establish new national parks (for example, Făgăraș Mountains National Park and Țarcu Mountains National Park)

Virgin forests in the Făgăraș Mountains