The Ministries of Environment of Bulgaria and Romania have signed a deal on protection of wetland areas along their border on the river Danube.

“The goal is for Bulgaria and Romania… to take coordinated action for the protection of bird colonies that are the same on both sides of the Danube,” Ivan Hristov, Bulgaria’s waters coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, said.

The agreement, drafted by the WWF, is to be further reviewed by the secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on wet areas and then implemented.

Three Danube wetland areas in Bulgaria – the Ibisha Island, the Belene Islands and the Srebarna Lake – are included in the Ramsar Convention.

The plan includes adding to them the nearby lakes of Bistret, Suhaia, and Calarasi in Romania.

As an example, Hristov mentioned the herons that live on Ibisha in Bulgaria but which feed in Bistret, in Romania, as well as pelicans that nest in Srebarna, Bulgaria, and feed in Calarasi, Romania.

According to him, there will be bilateral bans on hunting, logging and commercial activities in the areas, as well as access to bird colonies during mating period.

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, the full name of the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides a framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. It was first signed in 1971.

