WWF: Romania did not complete energy and climate plan it was supposed to send to EC by June 20

Romania failed to complete an energy and climate plan that it should have submitted to the European Commission by June 30, 2024, claim WWF-Romania experts, in a press release sent on Friday.According to this source, the member states of the European Union (EU) must present an energy and climate plan that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and, although the deadline for submitting the plan was June 30, 2024, Romania has not yet completed this plan.The alarm signal raised by environmental activists comes against the backdrop of the recent launch of the 15th edition of the "Living Planet 2024" report, published by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), according to which populations of wild species had a catastrophic decline of 73% in just 50 years.The document, released on October 10, 2024, warns of the beginning of the sixth mass extinction of biodiversity, "this time caused by man."In what concerns Romania, the specialists argue that the excessive use of pesticides, intensive agriculture, poaching, the development of an unsustainable infrastructure without taking into account the long-term impact on the environment, illegal logging over time or plastic pollution, to which are added the decisions who put political interest before science-based recommendations, as in the case of the recently adopted law allowing trophy hunting for the bear species, do a serious disservice to the species and the health of the ecosystems."If worldwide deforestation intensified in 2023, despite the global commitment to stop deforestation and forest degradation until the end of the decade, in Romania the fight is to preserve what already exists: High Conservation Values. Our country has made a commitment to protect 10% of its entire forested area and it is currently in the process of identifying these areas. Furthermore, WWF supports a real reform of the system to combat legal exploitation and a responsible use of wood, therefore the organization is involved in the development of the new Forestry Code which is now under parliamentary debate. Also, in the past 100 years, the authorities have dammed and drained vast areas of the meadow and the Danube Delta, so that 85% of the meadow and a third of the Danube Delta have been lost. The consequences of these actions accentuated by climate change are visible: more catastrophic consequences of floods, much more severe effects of droughts, desertification, poverty in the Danube communities," the specialist report states.At the same time, environmental activists remind the fact that, on the Danube, the big infrastructure projects "seriously endanger the ecosystem balance, calling into question all the efforts of WWF Romania to restore the sturgeon populations.WWF Romania - The World Wide Fund for Nature is one of the most important organizations specialized in environmental conservation, which works to reduce the effects of climate change.The priority conservation areas of WWF Romania are: Maramures, Transylvania, the south-western part of the Carpathians, Apuseni, Lunca and the Danube Delta.  (Photo:https://wwf.ro/)