Here is the petition addressed by Agent Green to Roberta Metsola.

Dear Mrs. Roberta Metsola,

We would like to call your attention to the implementation of the Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (the Habitats Directive) by the Romanian Government concerning one of the protected species from Annex II and IV, Ursus arctos.

The species is endangered by the normative acts passed since 2021, respectively, The Emergency Governmental Ordinance 81/2021 and the Law that approved and modified the Ordinance, no 197/2022. As a result of the government propaganda that brown bears are very dangerous and cold-blooded killers, the Minister of Environment Waters and Forests recently proposed an Order for killing 486 brown bears.

The national action plan for conserving the brown bear population in Romania, approved by the Minister of the Environment no. 625/2018, was never implemented, as the Minister recognized in front of the Court of Justice, as detailed in the annexed report.

The Brown Bears are being sacrificed in Romania because of the lack of conservation measures and to indulge the hunter’s need for trophies. The Arthur Affaire in April 2021 is a perfect example of the illegal hunting parties organized in Romania.

The mentioned legislation allows the killing of Brown Bears by a team composed of a representative of the hunting fund and a gendarme, a representative of the town hall and a veterinarian, who do not have previous expertise, do not possess equipment or substances for veterinary use and are not trained to intervene in such situations where capture is necessary, tranquillizing or possibly euthanizing some bears. They are allowed to kill if the bear seems to be dangerous, both inside the localities and in their natural environment, regardless of the age of the bear. This practice occurs in Natura 2000 sites and violates the Habitats Directive.

The order allowing 486 bears that are neither dangerous nor create any prejudices to anyone is based on only a preliminary study, as it is stated on the first page.

The study only criminalizes bears and categorizes them as dangerous without analyzing prevention and conservation measures. At the same time, this study completely lacks an assessment of the impact of killing the 486 bears; a scientific assessment of the bear population is lacking. Also, an analysis of the causes that lead to human-bear conflicts is missing to determine the most appropriate prevention methods.

As a result, the hunting activities, which are illegal under the current EU legislation, lead to human-bear conflicts, which are provoked by the hunters interfering in the natural habitats of the bears. Therefore, instead of killing bears, Romanian authorities should address the root causes of such encounters, namely illegal hunting in protected areas.

Logging destroys the habitat for bears beyond repair. As a result, they search for shelter and food and are pushed toward human settlements.

We ask you to address this issue in the committee for Petitions and, by doing so, help to protect natural habitats for bears in Romania. We sincerely rely on the understanding of the Members of the European Parliament and their will to address on the EU level the severe issue of hunting, as well as the equally serious issue of the national authorities voluntarily and knowingly going against the EU obligations for nature conservation.

Best regards,

Gabriel Paun, President

The context of the petition to stop the killing of bears in Romania

The bear population in Romania is lower than the official estimates. NGOs conducted extensive research and tracking of bear families and concluded that the bear population is lower than the official figures by at least 25%.

For two years in a row, the volunteers from Conservation Carpathia Foundation collected 1,700 DNA samples from bears and sent them to a laboratory in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The results bluntly contradicted the official figures.

We got a density of 17-18 bears per hundred square kilometers. The official data show around 21 bears per hundred square kilometers. These official data are subjective and shouldn’t be used in the management of this species in Romania.

Ruben Iosif, biologist, Conservation Carpathia Foundation

The fact is that the Romanian authorities seem to have been misusing the data. More precisely, the collection of this data is the problem. The Romanian Ministry of Environment and Forests use the forest rangers’ observations to count the bear population. How precise can they be?

More than that, a recent study published by the same Ministry shows the bear population is close to 8,000. The very minister who signed the order for killing bears in Romania asked, in the past, for the killing of 5,000 bears and estimated, personally, in 2015, that the bear population in Romania is at least 10,000. These bluntly fake numbers made Euronews call the minister “bad news for the bear population in Romania.”

Interestingly, the minister, whose name we prefer not to recall and who has just been ousted from the Ministry after the Hungarian Minority Party entered Opposition, signed the order on his very last day at the office. How cynical is that? What interests can be found behind this sort of order?

About Agent Green

Agent Green is the NGO that came up, along with Charlie Ottley, with the brilliant idea of involving companies in what they called the “bear rights campaign.” They appealed to the companies using bears in their logos, names or communication and asked them to contribute to protecting this species.

The famous British director Charlie Ottley was thrilled to be the main character in the videos shot for the Bear Rights campaign.

The post Petition Addressed to European Parliament to Stop Killing of Brown Bears in Romania appeared first on Valahia.News.

In 2011, the hunting of wood grouses was forbidden. The species was considered endangered after years of hunting, and the ban on hunting these spectacular birds allowed the population to grow again. But the very Minister of Environment considered it had grown too large in number and signed a decision to allow hunting again.

The NGOs disagreed, though, and addressed the Romanian court. The decision came very quickly: the order given by the minister was suspended; thus, the species is now protected, and hunting is banned.

It’s not a final decision, though, but it’s a big step to stop what would’ve been a hunting spree. The order mentioned that 239 wood grouses could be hunted. Interestingly enough, the county where the Minister lives, Harghita, received the most significant quota in the country.

Tanczos Barna is famous for supporting bear hunting. In his opinion, the bear population in Romania has grown too big, but again, the environmentalists contradict the official figures.

Romanians started to care about the environment. After years of illegal logging and hunting sprees destroyed flora and fauna in the country, the people started fighting against those who broke the law. Smartphone apps have been designed to help Romanians report any illegal activity they notice, such as trucks carrying logs, and the police are notified and take appropriate action.

This is why decisions, such as those recently taken by the Minister of Environment, are not well received by the locals. Romania has started to understand that its inheritance, the secular forests and the diverse flora and fauna, are meant to be protected for future generations and foreign tourists to continue to enjoy nature in the country.

People like Charlie Ottley, the British producer now living in Romania, immensely helped. Charlie produced quite a few documentaries on Romania. Wild Carpathia, featuring King Charles III, who owns properties in Transylvania, Flavors of Romania, where he wonders the country to show each region, and Wild Danube, a documentary dedicated to this exceptional area. Maybe, at least from time to time, Romanians have to learn that the experience of Western environmentalists is needed when it comes to protecting the environment.

The post Romanian Court Suspends Minister of Environment Decision on Hunting Wood Grouses appeared first on Valahia.News.

The Emergency Department in Romania attempted to plant these cross-shaped buoys in the Black Sea to warn people that being not very careful in the water is not an option and to deter swimmers from going too far out into the sea.

A bright orange cross sits atop the buoys, along with a plaque that reads, “No swimming beyond the buoy. Past this point, you’re in danger of drowning!” or: “Last year, 36 people perished after driving past the buoys. Now is the time to return to the shore!”

This non-conformist project has attracted much criticism on social media, and the officials were forced to give up this idea. It also led to rescuers refusing to install cross-shaped buoys on the seashore.

In a message on his Facebook page, Raed Arafat, the high-ranking official from the Ministry of Interior responsible for the implementation of this project, stated that seeing a person drown or learning how to bring a person back to life is more painful for an adult or a youngster than seeing the red cross off the coast.

In order to be visible and attract attention, it could not be a small floating ball, being necessary for higher visibility when approaching the danger zone. The idea of ​​a red cross can be interpreted in many ways, but it signals the danger from a distance, and as you get closer to it, you can read the warning text, drawing your attention that you are already very close to danger.

Raed Arafat

Each of the coast’s lifeguards has received one of these buoys; however, they have stated that they will not be installed.

We will not install them because the role of the buoy is to mark the safety zone. Its shape and colour are well specified in the law. This buoy, which I do not know by whom it was created, does not meet these conditions. In addition, the buoys are dangerous, it has corner plates, and when the sea is rough, and a person is curious to read that message, that plate can hurt them.

Gabriel Culea, coordinator of the Lifeguard Service for Mamaia and Constanta

Opinions are divided. Some believe this idea would help reduce the drowning cases on the Romanian coast. Others consider that it would turn the Black Sea into a cemetery. In any case, Romanians know how to have dark humour in such situations.

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According to the announcement Google.org has recently made on the dedicated page of the project, the Google.org Impact Challenge Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is an open call for grant applications to provide EUR 2 M in grants to support initiatives that put digital inclusion at the heart of economic recovery. Under the call ‘Let’s help bridge the digital divide in Central and Eastern Europe‘, Google.org wants to build a digital economy for everyone.

In fact, the sum to finance the projects from the Central and Eastern Europe covers the winning projects selected from 11 countries, namely: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Applications are open until March 1 and the process has just started. If you are an NGO and you want to apply for a grant in this competition, you have to take into consideration the application criteria: Ambition, Feasibility, Innovation, Impact and Scalability.

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