Romania

% of land, % of marine waters are covered by protected areas.
species and habitats are protected under EU law

Romania is a large country consisting of the Carpathian Mountains, hills, plains and the large Danube Delta. with a terrestrial area of close to 238 000 km² and a marine areas close to 29 500 km². It is bordered by 5 other countries. The highest point is Moldoveanu Peak at 2 544m. Romania has a population of 19.4 million people and a population density of 83.1 people per km².

Protected areas

% of land

% of marine waters

There are a total of protected areas in Romania, Natura 2000 sites - Special Protection Areas (Birds Directive) and Sites of Community Importance (Habitat Directive) - as well as sites designated under national laws.

% of the network is protected only through national laws

% of the network consists solely of Natura 2000 sites

% consist of and overlap between the two.

The average size of protected areas in Europe is lower compared to other regions of the world. This largely reflects the high degree of fragmentation of the land in Europe due to urbanisation, infrastructure and general intensification of land use. At a EU level 50% of protected areas have an area of less than 1 km². The 10 largest marine sites account for 68% of the marine area, while the 10 largest land sites account for 41% of the land area covered by protected areas

Size distribution of Romania's land protected areas network

Size distribution of Romania's marine protected areas network

Natura 2000 sites in Romania cover species and habitats from the nature directives. The number of species and habitats protected in each site varies depending on the location of the site, the biodiversity in the region, the designation being used, and the features the site is being created to protect. For sites there is only 1 feature being protected with sites having more than 20 features.

Protected species

Species protected in Romania under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive and under the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 2 500 species on its list, the Birds Directive has a total of 500 species of wild birds protected.

species protected under EU law in Romania

species are unique to Romania

species under the Habitats Directive

species under the Birds Directive

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

% of species are considered to be Good

% of species are considered to be Poor

% of species are considered to be Bad

% of species are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Taxa

Protected species composition by Taxa

Protected habitats

Habitats protected in Romania under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 233 habitats on its list.

habitats protected under EU law in Romania.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

% of habitats are considered to be Good

% of habitats are considered to be Poor

% of habitats are considered to be Bad

% of habitats are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Group

Habitat composition by Group

Ecosystems

Policy

MAES in Romania:

At the country level, the project „Demonstrating and promoting natural values to support decision-making in Romania” implements the MAES process in Romania

Green infrastructure in Romania:

Romania's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2014-2020) sets the general strategic framework for biodiversity and nature protection in the country, identifying strategic objectives and corresponding actions to be implemented by 2020. Green infrastructure is implicitly addressed, for example, under the strategic objective ‘Assurance of coherence and efficient management of the national network of natural protected areas’. Foreseen actions include, e.g. analysing the coherence of the natural protected areas and ecological corridors; harmonising the management measures of cross-border protected areas with those of neighbouring countries; evaluating the way in which the current road transport network fragments natural habitats and habitats of wild species of conservation interest and propose solutions to reduce or eliminate fragmentation (such as ecoducts, fauna bridges).

National Biodiversity strategy for Romania:

To report on progress to the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy, the European Commission extracted relevant information from the EU Member States’ 5^th national reports to the CBD. Of the 5 countries which had not finalized their national reports at the time of the synthesis (26^th of August 2015), Greece, Malta, Portugal and Lithuania provided information to be included in the synthesis.