Posted on November, 06 2006
With official publication of Law 389/19.10.2006, Romania has officially ratified the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathian Mountains. With over half of the Carpathian Mountains located on Romanian territory, the country has a key role to play in the regional framework convention.
In 2001, the Romanian government organised together with WWF the Summit on Environment and Sustainable Development in the Danube-Carpathian Region, at which the Carpathian Convention was first proposed. But significant delays in Romania's ratification of the document had led to questions regarding the agreement's future.
“Romania's ratification of the Carpathian Convention underlines the country’s continued support for this important framework convention,” said Erika Stanciu, head of Carpathians / Forests and Protected Areas for the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme. “By ratifying the Carpathian Convention just a couple of months before accession to the EU, Romania has reaffirmed its commitment to promote sustainable development based on principles including protection and conservation of the country’s exceptional natural heritage.”
On 22 May 2003 in Kyiv, the Ministers of the Environment of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia & Montenegro signed the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians. The Convention provides the framework for cooperation and multi-sectoral policy coordination, a platform for joint strategies for sustainable development, and a forum for dialogue between all stakeholders involved. Only Serbia, with a relatively small area of the Carpathians on its territory, has yet to ratify the Convention.
The Carpathian Mountains are on WWF’s Global 200 list of the 200 most important natural areas in the world. They are one of Europe’s last great wilderness areas, a bastion for large carnivores, providing home to over half of the continent’s remaining populations of brown bears, wolves and lynx, and with the largest remaining areas of natural forest.
