Experts from the Danube Delta National Research and Development Institute (INCDDD), the Tulcea County Council, and the local private sector say they are committed to turning the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve into 'the heart of Europe's aquatic resilience' through 'blue innovation', collaboration and projects - despite the difficulties encountered over time in working with various authorities.

The blue economy refers to the sustainable use of marine and aquatic resources for economic growth, job creation and improved livelihoods, while protecting ecosystem health. The concept is supported through several EU funding programmes.

INCDDD's scientific director Iulian Nichersu told AGERPRES at the end of the Blue Economy Experts' Forum, hosted this week in Tulcea, that the event reminded participants that modern governance means transnational cooperation and the exchange of best practices.

'Europe challenges us through the EU Mission Ocean initiative to be bold, to restore waters and protect biodiversity through innovation. Our response is firm - we officially commit to transforming the Danube Delta and the city of Tulcea into a regional hub for implementing the blue economy in the Black Sea. The hub is already functioning through a strategic partnership. (...) Through close cooperation between the County Council, INCDDD and the Delta complex, as well as other public authorities such as the Delta Administration, we show that Tulcea has the full formula: political vision, scientific rigour and an economic driver. Protecting the Delta does not mean isolating it from the world or blocking development; it means reinventing it through blue innovation. The County Council, INCDDD and the private sector assume the role of turning the Delta and Tulcea into the heart of Europe's aquatic resilience,' Nichersu said.

Although the Danube Delta Management Plan, the strategic document for the reserve, has not yet been adopted, Nichersu expressed confidence that the said document and other strategies for the area can become engines of transformation.

'The purpose of this forum was to outline the future. We analysed the stage of blue-economy implementation possibilities, and how planning tools - such as the Management Plan and the Delta Transport Strategy - can become drivers of transformation for the entire region. The key word is future, and that future is inseparable from a sustainable and innovative blue economy,' Nichersu concluded.

Over the years, several Delta-related research projects have faced obstacles or stalled - including a project that could have turned Tulcea Port into a 'green hub', publicly presented in 2021 during a symposium organized by the institute, though initiated earlier.

'Tulcea Port depends on the port of Galati, and we had a challenge from a lady there who said she wasn't interested (in the project). Tulcea, as a county, in terms of resource opportunities, research and implementation, is by far the most important county in Romania, leaving aside the fact that the Danube Delta is clearly the most important UNESCO heritage site in Europe and worldwide,' said Delia Dimitriu, board member of the Danube Delta Decarbonisation Association and expert with the European Commission.

The Danubius project - declared in 2013 a flagship of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region and intended to provide 18 types of customised services, including for Romania - has also had a difficult path.

'The first major hurdle has been passed, in the sense that construction has begun on the laboratories and the hub. The first big step was taken in 2024 when the construction contract was signed, and excavations for the foundation are already underway. (...) For the Romanian side, only 20% of services are functional, the rest are about to become functional because they depend on the laboratories now under construction,' said Simona Litescu, representative of the National Institute for Research and Development in Biological Sciences (INCDSB) in Bucharest.

She added that all other European supersites in the Danubius project already offer their full range of services, and that the Romanian supersite collaborates with them. She noted that Delta residents themselves will benefit from the data collected by researchers.

'We have technologies based on biomass recovery, for example. Certainly, in a Delta household there are plant residues. The resident can put them to good use and, instead of causing environmental pollution, provided that there is a viable solution in place, they can convert the biomass - the waste in their backyard - and obtain an extract for, say, the chicken they keep, because it makes it feel better, or it can be used by humans to make them feel better. It all depends on what we find there, in the household's yard,' Litescu said.

During her presentation at the forum, she expressed confidence that the Danube Delta supersite within the Danubius project will be operational in 2028.

Tulcea hosted over June 16 - 18 the forum 'Challenges and Opportunities in the Danube Delta: Developing the Blue Economy', organized by the County Council, INCDDD and the Delta hotel complex. The event aimed to intensify interconnected actions in the context of pressures from climate change, pollution and the need for regional development, and brought together researchers and university professors from Romania and abroad, as well as representatives of the European Commission.

The Danube Delta Management Plan is a strategic document for protecting nature and ensuring the sustainable development of communities within the reserve. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Luisiana Bigea; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)