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The Danube Delta is a special tourist destination, where visitors should contemplate nature, not destroy it, says the governor of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve (RBDD), Gabriel Marinov, in a message on the occasion of the World Wetlands Day, which is celebrated on Thursday, February 2, told Agerpres.
He recalled that in the Danube Delta there are over 9,000 species of plants and animals that are strongly affected by human actions.
"Many do not want to understand that the Danube Delta is not necessarily a tourist destination in the strict sense of the word. It must primarily be regards as an interesting landscape and also of a scientific interest. Many come to the Delta as if they were going to resorts such as Mamaia, Sinaia or any other resort established at national, European or world level. No! The Danube Delta is a completely different tourist destination in which tourists must be very little intrusive, tourists should only contemplate and not destroy the environment," said the RBDD governor.
Gabriel Marinov reiterated that the RBDD Administration does not have the necessary resources to cope with the large number of tourists.
"And our capabilities, of the administration, are extremely limited in relation to the large number of tourists. That's why we can't deal with all of them. Not to mention the tonnes of garbage that we collect with the help of non-governmental organizations or by our own forces, of the large sums we have to pay to the sanitation companies to transport the tonnes of garbage from the tourist areas. Look at what is happening on the wild beaches of Corbu, Vadu, where there are mountains of garbage that we also collect," the Governor of the Reserve also said.
In his opinion, one-day tourism is one of the most harmful for the natural habitats in the RBDD, because of the very high speed with which the boats move in order for the visitors to see as large an area as possible, in the shortest possible time, the waves produced by boats affecting the species on the banks and the bottom of the waters.
According to a press release sent to AGERPRES on the occasion of World Wetlands Day, in the localities of Sulina, Crisan, Chilia Veche and Murighiol, students and teachers from schools within the RBDD perimetre participate in events organized by the heads of the Visiting, Information and Ecological Education Centres of the Reservation Administration.
This year's World Wetlands Day celebration takes place under the motto "It's time to restore wetlands," this year's theme being meant to highlight the urgent need to prioritize the reconstruction of wetlands.
"Wetlands are being lost three times faster than forests, making them the most threatened ecosystem on Earth. More than 80% of all wetlands have disappeared since the 1700s. Since 1970, at least 35% of wetlands have been lost, and the reversal of this trend is critical," reads a press release of the RBDD Administration.
According to this source, the RBDD Administration implements projects aimed at ecological reconstruction activities necessary to improve the hydrological conditions in the natural aquatic habitats in the reserve and preserve biodiversity.
RBDD was the first and largest wetland of international importance, especially as a waterfowl habitat, included by Romania on the list of the Ramsar Convention, in September 1991. Currently, there are 20 RAMSAR sites in Romania covering an area of 1,177,749 hectares.
World Wetlands Day wants to bring attention to the value of wetlands to humanity and the planet. It also marks the date of adoption in 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar, of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as a habitat for waterfowl, an international document that establishes rules for the protection of ecosystems formed by wetlands.
Romania joined the Ramsar Convention by adopting Law no. 5/1991, thus recognizing the importance of wetlands that host habitats with characteristic flora and fauna having fundamental ecological functions and a great ecological, economic, natural, scientific and recreational value, their disappearance being irreparable.
