The Danube Delta in Romania is the largest river delta wetland in Europe and became active as a rewilding area in 2013. The main focus to date has been on setting up pilot activities and enterprise development. The ecological integrity of the Danube Delta ecosystem has been preserved, and at the same time vast areas of it have become much wilder than before. The Rewilding Europe initiative has firstly focused in the outer delta to achieve this. A number of large core rewilding areas that have no-take regimes, are connected through wildlife and wilderness corridors and surrounded by areas for different kinds and levels of sustainable use. In the core rewilding areas, nature is regulated to a great extent by natural ecological processes, with wildlife and fish in natural densities and with the original native species present. Here, people have chosen to take a clear step back, not actively managing the landscape nor wildlife any more. Some areas are run as community conservancies where local people have an important role in the sustainable management and development. The rewilding process has also provided examples of new or additional ways to make a living, based on these wild resources.

Hide text