Digitising the boundaries of protected natural areas of national, European and international importance cost 9 million euros from European funds. The project was completed in 2015, formally accepted and approved through legislation.
Nevertheless, the Ministry of the Environment did not publish the results, leading to the degradation of protected areas whose boundaries local authorities and investors interpret as they please.
Agent Green took the initiative to publish this information of public interest, asking the environment minister to do the same on the ministry’s website.
Title: “Creation of spatial datasets in accordance with INSPIRE technical specifications for protected natural areas, including Natura 2000 sites, to optimise their management facilities”
Beneficiary: Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, Biodiversity Directorate
Contractor: The consortium of S.C. Open GOV S.R.L. (lead), S.C. ROMSYS S.R.L. (partner) and Teamnet International (supporting third party)
Co-financed: by the European Regional Development Fund through the Environment Sectoral Operational Programme 2007–2013
Why publishing the data matters
Without published official boundaries, Romania’s protected areas are vulnerable. Local authorities and investors can interpret boundaries as they please, leading to:
Direct consequences
Without published boundaries
✗Illegal construction in protected areas
✗Logging within natural areas
✗Custodians unable to exercise effective control
✗9 million euros spent without a visible result
What publication resolves
With published boundaries
✓Transparency and public access to information of public interest
✓Practical tools for custodians and NGOs
✓A basis for challenging abuses in court
✓Accountability for the 9-million-euro investment
“We took the initiative to publish the INSPIRE results because the Ministry of the Environment is doing nothing, thereby becoming complicit in the siphoning of 9 million euros in European money and in the degradation of protected natural areas.”
— Gabriel Păun, President of Agent Green
Categories of protected areas in Romania
Romania uses a protected-area classification system that partially corresponds to the categories of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
IUCN categories ↔ Romania
🌳 Ia / I — Scientific Reserve
Strict nature reserve — full protection
🌎 II — National Park
Ecosystem conservation and recreation
💧 III — Natural Monument
Protection of specific natural formations
🐾 IV — Nature Reserve
Active habitat or species management
🌿 V — Nature Park
Protected terrestrial or marine landscape
🌱 VI — Sustainable Use
Protected area with sustainable use of resources
Classification by importance
A. Local importance
Designated by the Local Council
B. County importance
Designated by the County Council
C. National importance
Designated by Parliament, Government or Ministry
D. European importance — Natura 2000 sites
SCI (Sites of Community Importance) and SPA (Special Protection Areas for birds)
E. International importance — UNESCO
Biosphere Reserves, Ramsar wetlands, natural World Heritage Sites, Geoparks
The INSPIRE Directive — European context
Directive 2007/2/EC (INSPIRE), adopted by the European Parliament in 2007, establishes an infrastructure for spatial information in the European Community to support environmental policies and public access to geographical data.
The directive covers 34 spatial data themes and aims to make data compatible and usable across the Community and across borders.
INSPIRE principles
1
Collect once — Data should be collected only once and kept where it can be maintained most effectively.
2
Interoperability — Spatial information from different sources across Europe must be able to be combined and shared among users and applications.
3
Multiple scales — Information collected at one level must be shareable at every level: detailed for investigations, general for strategic purposes.
4
Availability — Geographical information needed for good management at every level must be transparently available.
5
Easy discovery — It must be easy to discover what geographical information is available, how it can be used and under what conditions it can be obtained.
Transposition in Romania
Government Ordinance 4/2010 on the National Infrastructure for Spatial Information (INIS)
Romania’s solution for distributing spatial data is the INIS Geoportal, designed to facilitate the discovery and sharing of geospatial data resources.
Download protected area boundaries
Agent Green makes spatial datasets available to the public in SHP (Shapefile) and KMZ (Google Earth) formats, covering all categories of protected areas in Romania.
Available datasets
✓Scientific Reserves (Strict Nature Reserves)
✓National Parks (National Parks)
✓Natural Monuments (Natural Monuments)
✓Nature Reserves (Habitat/Species Management)
✓Nature Parks (Nature Parks)
✓Biosphere Reserves (Biosphere Reserves)
✓Ramsar Sites (Wetlands of international importance)
