Climate change, studied by pupils in Tulcea county

02.02.2010

The DDBRA wants to make wetlands protection programmes as well-known as possible. The new project will take place during February 1^st- 7 ^th, in Tulcea and all settlements in the Danube Delta.

The programme officially starts on February 2^nd, in Tulcea, at the Danube Delta Museum and Ecotourism Centre. The guests of honour will be pupils from all the schools in Tulcea and those who learn in Nufăru,Beştepe, Somova, Valea Nucarilor, Sarichioi, Isaccea, Luncaviţa, Grindu and I.C. Brătianu. Participants will receive information on the dangers to the Delta’s biodiversity and about the eco management plan DDBRA has put into motion, in order to sustainably conserve the ecosystem in Romania’s biggest protected wetland.

Those present will also get the chance to visit the biggest and most modern aquarium in Romania, which showcases most of the aquatic fauna in the Delta. The Danube Delta Museum in Tulcea was inaugurated by local authorities last year. The investment amounted to over one million Euros and was funded by the European Union.

During the other days of the week, DDBRA specialists and researchers from the Danube Delta Institute will go in the communes of Jurilovca, Ceatalchioi, Crişan, Sf. Gheorghe, Sulina, Chilia Veche, C. A. Rosetti and Pardina, where they will meet pupils and other locals, in order to talk about the necessity to protect the diversity in Romania’s biggest wetland protected according to the Ramsar Convention.

World Wetlands Area

“We are organising this educational programme to in order to celebrate World Wetlands Day, the 2^nd of February”, Grigore Baboianu, governor of the DDBRA, says. The day is dedicated to wetlands because, on February 2^nd 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar, world nations have signed the Wetlands Convention, ratified by Romania by Law no. 5/1991.

This is also why talks to pupils will include plenty of information about Romania’s involvement in implementing the convention. “After ratification of the Ramsar treaty, our country included five natural wetland areas in The Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance, with a total of 683,628 hectares. They are the Danube Delta, the Small Island of Braila, Dumbrăviţa Fishpond Complex, Mureş Floodplain and Techirghiol Lake”, the DDBRA governor explains. “These wetlands include ponds, swamps, natural and artificial waters that have such economic, natural, scientific and recreational value that their loss would be unrecoverable. The ecosystems in these wetlands are the most biologically productive and thus represent consistent resources for the local economies. They must be sustainably utilised, according to the environment laws”, he adds.

International Biodiversity Year

2010 has been named International Biodiversity Year during a world leader conference in Copenhagen, which took place at the end of last year. DDBRA plans to mark the occasion by organising other events that would draw public attention the biodiversity in the Danube Delta, Romania’s biggest wetland, protected for over two decades. “Although the Delta is a protected area, the species of flora and fauna, the ecosystems, are all threatened by human intervention. This is why we plan to talk to locals, mostly children and teenagers, about this kind of impact, but also about the problems probably brought on by climate change. We also want to let people know about the necessity of expanding wetlands and preserving extended ones, because they can reduce the negative impact of climate change”, Grigore Baboianu says.

Online resources:

Ecology is taught in School

The Danube Delta, the landscape of 2009

Keywords: NufărulholidayBeştepeGrinduclimate changeLuncaviţaDDBRA JurilovcabiodiversityCeatalchioiTulcea county