Representatives of research institutions and universities from six European countries participated at the end of last week in a seminar on the Danube landscape held in the Danube Delta, the working visit being part of the Danube Ruralscapes project, funded by the European Union.

The initiative, launched in 2017, aims to identify solutions through which the Danube cultural landscape can be preserved and brought up to date, with European specialists having visited different areas of the continent over time, including the Danube Delta, which have proved to be examples of good practice.

'During our collaboration with the National Institute for the Danube Delta, we learned that the region has better governance than other rural areas in central and eastern Europe, because there is a reserve here and research institutes that care about the complexity of the systems. But what we are finding now is that the time has come not only to take care of the national heritage, of the tourism that can be developed on its basis and of local communities, and here there are very good examples. Our main concern, as well as our recommendation for communities and authorities, is to understand who would want to live here in 30 years' time, to target beneficiaries and their needs. And we are not only talking about tourism. If you have this answer and the answers to additional questions, then there is a future and hope,' Balint Kadar, a representative of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, told AGERPRES.

The strategic partner of the consortium in Romania, the 'Ion Mincu' University of Urbanism and Architecture in Bucharest, was represented by Angelica Stan, who brought to mind that the European project targets seven micro-regions, including the Danube Delta, and focuses on preserving the Danube landscape through the development of specific guidelines.

'One of the sections is related to governance and support for communities to understand and create a different kind of mechanism and to implement these guidelines, because simply imposing them has proved not to work. They must be co-created by the community, much closer to the needs, possibilities and realities on the ground, and must be discussed much more carefully before becoming guidelines, starting especially from links that may not have been thoroughly studied until now, such as the connection of communities with water, with resources, with time. In other words, not to impose a set of guidelines as outsiders, because life usually overrides rules,' said Angelica Stan, the representative of the Bucharest university.

The visit to Tulcea County paid by representatives of the consortium implementing the Danube Ruralscapes project began in the villages of Visina and Jurilovca, where the Ivan Patzaichin - Mila 23 Association presented traditional houses renovated with the support of specialists from the Astra Museum in Sibiu.

'On this occasion, the local architectural guide of the Delta, developed 10 to 12 years ago, is being updated. At the same time, there is a European website for the Danube floodplain where each initiative is featured. It is also a resource for tourism,' said Teodor Frolu, vice-president of the Ivan Patzaichin - Mila 23 Association.

In Tulcea, the guests visited the Fishermen's Village set up with European funds, where Alexandru Onofrei has opened a craft workshop for building wooden boats.

'I have been working on a boat for almost six years. This is a canotca, but the boat I worked on last year together with Maftei is ten metres long, four metres wide and weighs nearly two tonnes,' Alexandru Onofrei said.

The delegation also visited Sulina.

The Danube Ruralscapes project started in April last year, will end at the end of September next year and has a total estimated budget of around 1.7 million euros, 80% of which represents Interreg funding. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Luisiana Bigea; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)

Photo: Luisiana BIGEA / AGERPRES