Photo credit: (c) AGERPRES ARCHIVE

More consistency in the development of settlements in the Delta could come from Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI), an area development instrument involving a strategy for a given territory, a set of feasible actions to achieve the strategy’s goals, and governance mechanisms to manage the investments.

It seems complicated, but it can merely turn into a story of simple folks, European commissioners, authorities, public servants, and strategies.

The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos and his colleague in charge of Environment Janez Potocnik first mentioned this opportunity for the Danube Delta in September 2012, when they visited the Natural Reserve there and met authorities and NGOs. ‘The Danube Delta would be the perfect target for a multi-fund approach. All the financial and conceptual resources could merge into a local strategy devised by local authorities, so that Romania can negotiate such an approach with the European Union starting from 2014,’ Ciolos said in September 2012.

A couple of months later, Tulcea County officials started procedures with central authorities to create a dedicated fund for the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve; the following year, World Bank experts brought in this venture by the Ministry of Regional Development met the beneficiaries of the European financial instruments; based on a strategy, money should come from 2015 on. Currently, a taskforce of the Tulcea County Council works to determine the necessary investments in the communities within the Reserve; so far, authorities say, the estimate is 500 million euros.

One of the largest sums, 100 million euros, is necessary for the modernization of approximately 800 kilometres of roads inside and outside the communes, according to Tulcea County Council Chairman Horia Teodorescu.

Photo credit: (c) Radu TUTA / AGERPRES PHOTO

Authorities already have projects for 175 kilometres of these roads. Requests exceed 6.6 million euros for the asphalt communal roads, 12.7 million euros for gravel roads, and 20 million euros for unpaved ones. Plans also include the renovation of the culture houses and sports halls in rural areas and the thermal insulation of the education units.

According to statistics dating back in 1992, the proportion of higher education staff in the Danube Delta was 50 percent below the national average, due to poor housing conditions, unfit for the aspirations and needs of some professional categories. The deficit of qualified teachers, a situation acknowledged by competent authorities, resulted in low performances of elementary school pupils, hampering their access to secondary and higher education.

The lack of boarding facilities in Sulina, for instance, or the financial insecurity of some families, especially those with many children, and the long distances to school, often traveling in very difficult conditions are some of the explanations for the modest results obtained by pupils in national examinations.

Some private tour operators got involved in the community lives and provide for transportation of children to schools in Tulcea, the county seat; other associations have rehabilitated schools in the Delta, but such actions, while definitely welcome, are sporadic. Only a long-term strategy could improve the situation. ‘Dental care practices in schools within the Reserve, renovation of educational buildings, installing boilers — here are just a few things to do for schools in the Danube Delta to optimize the teaching process conditions and get kids to enjoy coming to school,’ General Inspector Dumitru Damian detailed to AGERPRES the priorities of the County Education Inspectorate in approaching ITI.

Environmental projects are equally important to authorities, considering the triple-protected status of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. Human interventions over the second half of the 20th century have disregarded the evolution of natural ecosystems, thus contributing to the unbalance of the deltaic areas, including those where the so-called natural hydrological regime was preserved, according to Professor Petre Gastescu, a founding member of the Reserve. ‘Obviously, restoring the Danube Delta to its condition before 1950, even with the ecological reconstruction of several abandoned dike enclosures, is not feasible on medium-term; probably not even on long-term, due to dikes in Danube’s meadow land, now restricting the river’s flow. The Danube has no more space to breathe, pollutants are not confined within the meadows, and communities lack fishing and recreational sites,’ the scientist explained to AGERPRES.

Although meadow dikes have a durable impact on the Danube Delta, some steps to the restoration of enclosures undergoing ecological reconstruction are still necessary. Firstly, the water circulation system should be established throughout the Delta and the nearby lake complex. Professor Gastescu compares it with the preservation of the circulatory system of the human body, to ensure its vitality.
Photo credit: (c) Cristian NISTOR / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

In 2013, environmental authorities estimated the investments for renaturation within the Reserve to nearly 457 million euros.

‘Renaturation works are vital for the Danube Delta and we focus on them because, besides preserving biodiversity, they are also beneficial for human communities; the works result in the regeneration of flora and of the fishery resources. The necessary sum is huge, but to fit within the context of this financial instrument, we have selected works amounting to 195 million euros. So fare, renaturations have been carried out depending on funding from the state budget or from European funds.

We have recently signed a contract for the renaturation of Sontea-Fortuna and Matita Merhei complexes, worth 2.7 million euros. The sum might seem hefty, but it only helps solving precise problems; this is how things went to date, with works partially responding to special circumstances, for a limited time. An approach like the ITI, allowing us to manage 100 or 200 million euros funds, would make possible the renaturation of two or three complexes of the Reservation’, the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Governor Edward Bratfanof mentioned.

As regards healthcare, investments are all the more necessary as tourism is Delta’s main opportunity. Although 14 healthcare points with subsidized, free, and special programme drugs were inaugurated in the Reserve since 2004 and the authorities attending the inauguration event then promised a long-term strategy for the area, one could almost count the drugstores in the Delta on the fingers of one hand. Physicians face the same issues as pharmacists under contract with the Health Insurance House.

The County Council intends to build a multifunctional centre in Sulina, modernizing and installing equipment on 1600 square meters. The list goes on with the establishment of one dispensary and the rehabilitation of other four, and with the setup of three sanitary rooms and the renovation of three already in place. Purchasing adequate vehicles for physicians — off-road vehicles and boats with medical equipment — is another topic under consideration. ‘Infrastructure is vital, but one of the most important components of the health system is the medical staff. Therefore, we want an extended programme for the permanent training of all the personnel in this field, according to their specific qualifications; the programme should be adapted to its target area, namely the Danube Delta or the terrace area,’ the Tulcea County Council Chairman Horia Teodorescu declared.

Tulcea County Council Chairman, Horia Teodorescu
Photo credit: (c) Luisiana BIGEA/ AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Taking into account the dynamics of agriculture and the county specific, authorities think that the financial planning needed over 2014-2020 should focus on the modernization of farms, on encouraging youth to settle in rural areas, and on extensive investments in the infrastructure. The ITI programme should allocate 40 million euros to investments in tangible assets; some of it would go to the irrigation infrastructure vital for agriculture. Six million euros are directed to fruit growing. Overall, ITI is expected to get 180 million euros from the Ministry of Agriculture only.

The European financial instrument is not restricted to remote communes in the Danube Delta; it also covers the administrative and territorial units in its immediate vicinity, with a total of 34 communes and towns in Tulcea and Constanta counties benefitting from the incoming funds. ITI should start operating next year, and the projects aimed at communities within the Reserve would no longer compete with the ones of other counties. The success of a financial instrument that could turn Tulcea Conty into a model for Romania relies on the seriousness of the public servants involved in the strategy, on the steadfastness of county authorities, and on the correct understanding of the situation of people and of nature in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve.AGERPRES