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Last Updated on 16.07.10
The wetland of Danube in Romania, until 1964, covered 3.322 km², and formed an authentic delta. Grigore Antipa in 1910 claimed that Danube starting from entering the country and to the Black Sea had a flooding area of 891.232 ha, of which if we decrease the surface of Danube Delta (404.748 ha), results the Danube Meadow as a distinct geomorphological formation. All that nature has created here for centuries of evolution, it was detroyed in an instant by the hands of humans: damming, draining and deforestation in the 6th and 7th decades of the last century. Thus, the wetland reduced its surface five times.
The markets from Bucharest and from other big cities of the country would sell wild fish caught in the Danube Delta. Every year, on higher lands, fertilized by muds brought by floods, were harvested corn and vegetables crops. All the settlements from the area were provided with wood for the fire and rural building, from the forests on the higher lands. Also, on these higher lands, large semi-wild flocks of sheep, herds of horses and pigs used to grass within the limits of the bearing capacity of the natural ecosystems.
The first historical news about Danube Delta was left by the Greek Herodot, „the father of history”, who describes the entering of the persian fleet of Darius through the Delta, after resting at Histria (515-513 BC). Polibiu (3rd - 2nd century) describes a space with golden sandbanks crossed by arms of water. Straba (1st century BC) stated there were seven arms of water between which there were islands, statement resumed also by Pliniu cel Batran, Ptolemeu, etc.
Testimonies about the habitation of the area exist between the 1st – 2nd centuries BC. Detailed studies about Delta were presented by various geographers such as George Vaslan, Constantin Bratescu, the naturalist Grigore Antipa, etc. The negative effects triggered by the activity of men within the Delta, together with the more active actions done outside Delta, lead to increased risks of affecting the equilibrium of the natural ecosystems. For these reasons, Danube Delta has been declared by the Romanian government, in 1990, a Biosphere Reserve.
The universal value of this area has been acknowledged by being included in the international network of biosphere reserves, within the Programme „Man and the biosphere” launched by UNESCO in 1970, and over half of the Delta surface is included in the World Natural and Cultural Heritage List, developed by UNESCO in 1972. Starting with September 1990, at the Ramsar Convention, the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, was acknowledged as an important international wetland, especially as a water birds habitate.
The main objective is the preservation of specific natural areas by research and constant monitoring of the components of the protected ecosystems, preserving traditional forms of economic activities that don’t generate ecological imbalances, harmonising economic and social interests with the objectives of preservation and protection of biodiversity, informing and educating the population concerning the scientific value and the necessity of preserving and protecting the fauna, flora and the specific landscapes.
