Thousands of acres of the Danube Delta at risk
Carasuhat, an area of 2,500-hectare (6177 acres) of the Danube Delta with remarkable biodiversity, is at risk of disappearing, to be drained in favor of intensive agriculture. A photo exhibition highlights the beauty of nature here. WWF-Romania (World Wide Fund for Nature) is drawing attention to the real risk of the Danube Delta losing 2,500 hectares to intensive agriculture on International Wetlands Day, marked annually on 2 February. The Carasuhat area of the Danube Delta was partially renatured by a European project between 2012 and 2016, then partially flooded in 2023. A court ruling in December 2024 threatens to force the drying up of 2,500 hectares of the Delta in the Carasuhat area near Mahmudia and Beștepe.
“The Carasuhat area, which is in danger of being dried up again, includes the part ecologically reconstructed between 2012 and 2016, through the European project in which we were partners and which we consider a model for the future of the Delta,” says Orieta Hulea, WWF-Romania director. “At Mahmudia-Carasuhat it has been proven in the last 9 years that investments in nature restoration work and can bring prosperity to local communities. Such a model should not be destroyed, but preserved and replicated in as many areas of the Danube Delta and beyond”.
Online petition
WWF-Romania stands with the local communities of Mahmudia and Beștepe who want to preserve the delta near their home, a delta that has started to provide them with income from sustainable tourism and fishing and that offers them the prospect of a future. WWF-Romania’s website hosts a petition addressed to the Romanian Government and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests, in which some 10,000 signatories are calling for a Government Decision to allow the water to remain in Carasuhat while allowing compensation to agricultural concessionaires. On International Wetlands Day there will also be an event at the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant – a discussion about the future of the Carasuhat area (Danube Delta, Sfântu Gheorghe arm) and the opening of the photo exhibition “Carasuhat: Water remains, life remains”, with pictures by Adrian Năsturică, Lucian Mîndruță and Andrei Prodan. The discussion and the opening of the exhibition will take place in the Aquarium hall on February 2, 2025, starting at 10:00. According to a sociological study carried out in 2023, more than 97% of the inhabitants of Mahmudia commune support the restoration of wetlands, in favor of intensive agriculture.
