FUNDING FOR BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION NETWORKS
| The requirement for real funding mechanisms is very apparent in Romania. Retezat National Park can provide a focus in attempts to address this need. |
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| The requirement for real funding mechanisms is very apparent in Romania. Retezat National Park can provide a focus in attempts to address this need. |
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As can be seen on Map 9 Retezat lies near to the Cerna Mountains and to Domogled Peak (presumably the location of Domogled-Cerna National Park). Within the same area lie Cheile Carasului National Park and Cheile Nerei-Beusnita National Park.
See Table 1. for International Data on the nature reserves of South West Romania and Table 2. for Romanian Government Data.
A Biodiversity Network for South West Romania
The potential for these Protected Areas, which at present are nothing other than "Paper Parks," to provide the core areas within an extensive "Ecological Network" is immense.
| The international significance of Romania's extensive Montane Forests, particularly the Beechwoods (see Chart 1), the extreme international importance of these forests for endangered mammals and their significance for birds (see Chart 2) are all immediately recognisable. |
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More on Animals | More on Vegetation |
The high diversity of the flora and the presence of local endemics, the aesthetic appeal of lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) growing to the summit of Domogled mountain (as described by Muica and Popova-Cucu, 1993) and the ancient transhumance routes which still cross the southern part of the area (see Burford, 1993) all add to the social, ecological and aesthetic value of the region.
The establishment of a network of Protected Areas in South West Romania centred on Retezat National Park would generate considerable interest and provide a very substantial opportunity for the generation of income from "green" tourism and other sources.
| The implementation of the Bern Convention in Central and Eastern Europe through the EMERALD Network of Protected Areas offers the potential to focus international attention on this exceptional region. |
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More on the Bern Convention
and EMERALD Network
Innovative Funding
The mechanisms through which real funding can be channelled to meet the costs of such a network have hardly begun to be discussed. The nature of biodiversity as a global public good and the need for funding mechanisms to meet the opportunity costs of conservation are only starting to be accepted.
In order to facilitate the generation of funds it is desirable that Romania establish an Environmental Fund as recommended by the Environment Ministers of the Economic Commission for Europe in Sofia, 1995.
Organisations such as Birdlife International and WWF must lobby for conditional debt forgiveness for Romania in order to establish an EcoFund. Such a fund could finance the implementation of the EMERALD network in South West Romania in what could become an imaginative and very significant contribution to addressing the urgent need to develop global mechanisms to meet the costs of caring for the environment through the protection of biodiversity.