Posted on November, 19 2015

Brasov – The Romanian NGO Natura 2000 Coalition has won a final lawsuit against the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests. This will stop harmful small hydropower projects on the rivers Sucu-Olteana and Bistra Marului in the Tarcu Mountains, part of the EU network of protected sites. They were previously approved by the local Environmental Protection Agency.
 
"We welcome the fairness of the judiciary. We are glad for the environment and biodiversity in the face of developers who have gained influence and abused power in the pursuit of immediate gains. It is a major success, generating a favorable precedent for similar cases. We have shown that environmental legislation should always be respected and that it is not just on paper", said Liviu Cioineag, Director of the Natura 2000 Coalition. He also thanked the organizations that have provided the necessary support: WWF Romania and Altitude Association Timisoara.
 
Legal approach
 
Since February 2014, WWF Romania together with Coalition for the Environment, Nature Association Transylvania and individuals has been calling for the rejection of the small hydropower projects, which needed the approval of the Environmental Protection Agency in Caras-Severin. In June 2014, WWF Romania launched a public petition online in which over 6,000 people have asked the relevant authorities to reject the projects based on scientific arguments.
 
However, the local Environmental Protection Agency decided to ignore the voice of civil society, the provisions of the environmental approvals of Romania’s Energy Strategy as well as the negative opinion of the Natura 2000 site managers.
 
In August 2014, the Natura 2000 Coalition went to court to avoid the negative effects of construction and operation of small hydropower on aquatic fauna and protected habitats.
 
The coalition was successful at the first court instance but the developers appealed at a higher level. In November 2015, the Court of Appeal in Timisoara dismissed the environmental permits of the four small hydro power plants in the Natura 2000 site Tarcu Mountains.
 
Why destroy nature?
 
The projects foresee the construction of four small hydropower plants on the Sucu-Olteana and Bistra Marului rivers that are part of the Tarcu Mountains Natura 2000 site. These mountains preserve a concentrated complex of natural ecosystems (more than 80% of all ecosystems there are natural), with a remarkable biodiversity which is 25-78 times higher than the national average.
 
Small hydropower threatens the spawning migration of two extremely rare types of fish, while also destroying dependent riparian habitats of animals and birds.

The protection of freshwater ecosystems is a key environmental challenge. With regard to hydropower, WWF is active throughout the Danube River Basin to help ensure that energy requirements are met with options that also consider environmental and social impact.
 
Many hydropower projects are planned in ecologically sensitive areas and could harm the habitats of rare and endangered species. They can also negatively affect clean water, fisheries and tourism, among others.
 
Across the Danube River basin, WWF is contributing to efforts to stop some hydropower projects it considers unsustainable in Natura 2000 sites along the Bulgarian tributaries of the Danube and in the Romanian and Ukrainian Carpathians.