ABSTRACT
Like other countries in East Central Europe Romania began the transition with some major environmental problems because legislation failed to deliver effective pollution controls. Although scarcely apparent during the last years of communism, an ecological movement achieved early political success and some of the worst affected areas have now seen substantial improvements. In addition, the slowdown in the economy helped to reduce the scale of environmental damage, although rising unemployment induced a survival mentality which has made the public wary of supporting radical environmental programmes. However, with the help of foreign capital and technology, progress continues to be made on a broad front and the legislative programme of 1995 to 1996 should go a long way towards bringing Romania into line with EU practices. In addition to the key problems of air and water pollution, much is now being done to rationalise the woodlands and other rural land uses; also to develop a sound conservation policy with particular attention to protected areas and to enhance the cultural landscape for the benefit of rural tourism. In these respects this chapter differs substantially from the coverage in the first edition (Turnock 1993) and it also expands a more recent paper on environmental action since 1989 (Dragomirescu et al. 1998).
