Ooni Koda
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Newsfeed
  4. /
  5. WWF Romania : Promulgating trophy hunting law will...

WWF Romania : Promulgating trophy hunting law will increase conflicts with bears instead of solving them

August 22, 2024

President Iohannis promulgating a law that allows trophy hunting could have negative effects while leaving unsolved the problem of conflicts with bears, according to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF Romania), which announces that it will send to the European Commission a notification regarding Romania violating the Habitats Directive by passing the law.WWF Romania said on Wednesday that Iohannis promulgated the trophy hunting law by ignoring the recommendations of the Romanian Academy and the scientific arguments brought by environmental organisations.They draw attention to the fact that the law sets hunting quotas that have no scientific basis, as evidenced by the confusing figures that are carried in the public space from various sources, including official ones, going from 4,500 to 12,000 bears, which they call unsettling.Given the circumstances, they said, the results of the genetic study promised by the Ministry of Environment, Watercourse and Forestry to find out the number of bears are delayed. The long-awaited study could be the starting point for achieving real management for the bear species.According to the organisation, in Romania there have been prevention and intervention quotas so far, which, year after year, have been missed. Therefore, the legislative framework for the management of problematic specimens existed, but it was not applied. In 2017-2022, between 8 and 93 derogations per year were requested and between 7 and 63 specimens were harvested per year, according to data posted on the website of the Ministry of the Environment. However, the new law increases the quota, allowing preventive hunting, including by foreign hunters of 426 specimens per year, based on a study that has been hotly contested.In addition, Romania would be the only country that does not carry out an evaluation of the effectiveness of lethal interventions, which would show how conflicts have decreased, if any, in the areas where they have been extracted.The organisation says it believes that the problem of conflicts with bears can be managed through a complex of measures, which does not exclude hunting, but which emphasises prevention, which effectiveness has been proven at Baile Tusnad, where, through the implementation of a human-bear coexistence programme, red alert messages dropped from 238 at the beginning of the project, to only four in 2024.  

Read in full - click here
Two new investment funds active in Romania receive financing through EU-backed PNRR

Two new investment funds active in Romania, Sparking Capital II and PCP SEE II, will receive allocations worth EUR 30 million under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, or PNRR, after an approval from the Romanian executive and the European Investment Bank. The allocations are mediated by the European Investment Fund, a European financial institution, […]

Romania’s tax collector ANAF sees revenues up 12% in first half of 2025

The net revenues collected by Romania’s tax agency ANAF for the state budget increased by 12.2% in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, reaching RON 245.2 billion (EUR 49 billion), said outgoing ANAF president Nicoleta-Mioara Cîrciumaru. Nevertheless, the net revenues collected by ANAF are RON 3.8 billion (EUR […]

Survey: Romanians place highest trust in Army and Church, while Parliament ranks last

Romanians continue to place the most trust in the Army and the Church, while Parliament remains the least trusted institution, according to the second edition of the Informat.ro – INSCOP Research Barometer conducted between June 20–26. The monthly survey was commissioned by the news platform Informat.ro in partnership with the Strategic Thinking Group think tank. […]

Romania braces for fiery weekend as meteorologists issue Orange Code

Romania’s National Meteorological Administration, or ANM, issued on Thursday, July 3, an Orange Code warning for heatwave and heightened thermal discomfort, valid Friday and Saturday, July 4-5, in more than half the country, including Bucharest. The parts of Romania not covered by the Orange Code warning are under a Yellow Code for extremely hot weather. […]

Romania steps into the big league of fintech - Best Credit IFN becomes the first Romanian NBFI to partner with Bondster

Best Credit IFN announces the strategic partnership with the European crowdfunding platform Bondster, becoming the first Romanian non-banking financial institution (NBFI) to attract international capital through this platform. This initial round of financing marks a milestone in the company’s strategy to diversify its capital sources and rapidly scale its lending capacity in a dynamic market […]

Eastern Romania: Investigations continue in case involving Romanian IDs for Russians, Ukrainians

Another 93 searches were carried out at public institutions and private residences on Thursday, July 3, in the case of illegally-obtained Romanian identity documents for citizens of former USSR countries. Earlier this week, Romanian police completed 206 searches in the same case. Prosecutors claim that between 2023–2024, over 1,700 individuals born in the Russian Federation, […]