Danube Delta transboundary reserve to welcome Moldova in

The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Administration (ARBDD) has obtained the UNESCO agreement for the establishment of a Romania-Ukraine-Moldova cross-border reserve, Danube Delta Governor Ion Munteanu said Tuesday on the 30th anniversary of the reserve.

Currently, the Danube Delta is a transboundary biosphere reserve that includes 60,000 hectares in Ukraine and 580,000 hectares in Romania.

"Over time, we have had many bilateral and trilateral projects. The last of them, Pan Nature, was designed to create a reserve in the Republic of Moldova, the Prutul de Jos Biosphere Reserve. The next step we want to take in this cooperation is to make a three-party reserve. We have the approval of UNEOSCO for such action," said Munteanu.

He also said that in the autumn of 2020, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will renew the European Diploma of Protected Areas.

"In 2019, UNESCO and EU official visited the area to assess the way the reserve was managed over time. Data we have indicate that everything went very well and a new diploma is in the making," said Munteanu.

ARBBD will hold in Tulcea today a meeting with the local administration to mark the 30th anniversary of the reserve and in Sulina there will be an event to which students, teachers and environmental volunteers are invited to participate. Attendance is limited because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The 30th anniversary of the reserve is marked at 09:30hrs, on the Danube bank in Tulcea, and by the Ivan Patzaichin-Mila 23 Association, which will start the first edition of the United Waters Caravan of Romania (AUR), organised in partnership with the Department for Sustainable Development within the Romanian Government, in which several dozen people will travel in paddle boats the distance between Tulcea and the village of Sfantu Gheorghe.

"The AUR caravan is the vision of the association for responsible tourism, made with care for the environment and respect for biodiversity, a lesson in how to visit the Danube Delta," reads a statement released by the Ivan Patzaichin-Mila 23 Association.