Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute, vol.

27, 2022
© Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea Romania

http://doi.org/10.7427/DDI.27.11

11. Long term wetland-related land cover and use changes in

Romania

PETRIŞOR Alexandru-Ionuţ 1, PETRIŞOR Liliana Elza 2

1 Doctoral School of Urban Planning, “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning, Str.
Academiei nr. 18-20, sector 1, cod 010014, Bucharest, Romania; e-mail: alexandru.petrisor@uauim.ro
2 Independent researcher, retired architect, Şos. Pantelimon nr. 301, bl. C1, ap. 13, sector 2, cod

021619, Bucharest, Romania; e-mail: liliana_petrisor@yahoo.fr

A
bstract: Starting from the importance of wetlands, assessed through the perspective of the
ecosystem services provided, but also from the fact that the chaotic development of Romania,
characteristic to transition countries, resulted into important land cover and use changes, this
study aims to assess the effect of these transitional dynamics against the wetlands. The study uses
geospatial data, analyzed based on computing the area covered by different uses or affected by
changes. The findings indicate an alarming trend, consisting of a continuous loss of the wetland areas.
While the limitations inherent to using CORINE data do not allow for discerning the intricate mechanisms
of change, the overall picture requires immediate action on behalf of the authorities for avoiding further
losses.
Keywords: geospatial data, biodiversity, land cover and use, transitional dynamics.

INTRODUCTION

Wetlands are important due to the ecosystem services provided to the human society, as reservoirs of
biodiversity (Russel et al., 2002; Tyler Miller and Spoolman, 2009), but also due to the threats and
vulnerabilities menacing them (Williams and Dodd, 1979; Sbarcea et al. 2019). The ecosystem services
provided by wetlands include supply (Mitsch and Gosselink, 2000; Heinl, 2001; McCulloch et al., 2003;
St. Louis et al., 2004), regulation (Kuenzer and Renaud, 2012), cultural (Rasleigh et al., 2011), and
support (Gibbs, 1993; Meiţă and Petrişor, 2015).
In more details, wetlands offer benefits to society, often supporting large populations (Saito, 2005), such
as: highly fertile soils for agriculture, transportation of people and goods, water resources, and rich
biodiversity and recreational value (Coleman and Wright, 1971; Ibeanu, 2000; White, 2002; Reker et al.,
2006; Kuenzer and Renaud, 2012; Buhociu et al., 2013a, b; Renaud et al., 2013), habitats for key and
rare species (Wolfe et al., 2002). Wetlands are among the most productive natural systems (Saad,
2003).
Nevertheless, different impacts, including direct interventions (Tyler Miller and Spoolman, 2009), but also
other activities such as intensive agriculture, change of water and sediment fluxes, or urbanization and
industrialization (Saito, 2005; Syvitski and Saito, 2007; Syvitski, 2008; Meyer and Nijhuis, 2010; Kuenzer
and Renaud, 2012; Renaud et al., 2013; Dandekar and Thakkar, 2014; Giosan et al., 2014), make
wetlands are disappearing globally at an alarming rate (Heinl, 2001).
Romania did not make an exception; the lakes along the shoreline and the Danube Delta were turned
into agricultural land during the communist period, and other wetlands, including the Danube Delta, were
subject to important human impacts (Meiţă, 2010; Meiţă et al., 2010). The following period can be
characterized by a chaotic development, where some natural ecosystems were lost by their
transformation into man dominated-ones, and semi-natural ecosystems appeared when nature colonized
abandoned man-dominated system, or even purposefully (Petrişor, 2012)
The present study attempts to assess the long-term dynamics of land cover and use changes in
Romania in order to see whether wetlands were affected, and any clear trends can be seen. The
essential question concerns the possible loss, given the potential ecological consequences.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The research used geospatial data on land cover and use, freely available from two sources, i.e.,
CORINE land cover and use changes data provided by the Copernicus Land Monitoring Services
(http://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/corine-land-cover/lcc-2006-2012/view) for 2012 – land cover

113 | P a g e
Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute, vol. 27, 2022
© Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea Romania

and use and 2006-2012 – land cover and use changes and by the European Environment Agency
(http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/) for 2000 and 2006 – land cover and use, and respectively
for 1990-2000 and 2000-2006 – land cover and use changes. The software used to analyze the spatial
data based on overlying and clipping the different datasets was ArcView 3.X, in conjunction with its X-
Tools extension, used for the computation of areas under different categories.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig. 1 displays the dynamic of the area covered by wetlands in Romania during 2000-2012, based on
land cover and use data; the image indicates a clear decreasing trend (R2 = 0.95), suggesting that
wetlands were constantly lost throughout the ten years. However, Fig. 2, based on land cover and use
change data, indicates a different situation; during 1990-2000 and 2000-2006 the loss of wetland area
(through its transformation in other uses) is relatively equal with its gain (resulting from the transformation
of other uses into wetlands), with very small values in the second period. During 2006-2012, almost 55
km2 of other uses were transformed into wetlands.
This is, most likely, a temporary effect of the massive flush floods occurred in 2005-2007, but could also
reflect the construction of engineering structures used to retain the water as a preventive measure
against floods. Furthermore, it has to be stressed out that the spatial resolution of CORINE is a minimum
mapping unit of 25 hectares for the land cover and use data, and 5 ha for the land cover and use change
data (Hagenauer & Helbich, 2012).

3800.00

3600.00
R2 = 0.9499
3400.00 3798.19

3200.00 3403.86
3233.90
3000.00
2000 2006 2012

Fig. 1. Dynamic of the area covered by wetlands in Romania during 2000-2012 (values in km2). Source:
map created by the authors using free data from Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and the European
Environment Agency.

Gain Loss
60.00

54.38
40.00

20.00 26.12 26.35

0.00 0.62 0.10

0.00
1990-2000 2000-2006 2006-2012

Fig. 2. Dynamic of the land cover and use changes connected to the wetlands in Romania during 1990-
2012 (values in km2). Source: map created by the authors using free data from Copernicus Land
Monitoring Service and the European Environment Agency.

114 | P a g e
Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute, vol. 27, 2022
© Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea Romania

Similarly, other issues characteristic to CORINE data include misclassification of satellite data and
different classification schemes and resolutions from one period to another (Jansen, 2007; Pelorosso et
al., 2011; Verburg et al., 2011). Such issues are visible when looking at the type of wetlands: salted
marshes in 2000, and salted marshes, inland marshes, and peat bogs in 2006 and 2012. It is virtually
impossible for the two new categories to have suddenly emerged starting 2006, but very likely to be the
result of a better classification due to the change of the Romanian institution dealing with the actual
processing of data. However, these fine-tuning details do not affect the global result, showing a decrease
of the total area covered by wetlands.

CONCLUSIONS

The main findings of the study show that, based on the land cover and use data, the overall surface of
wetlands diminished consistently. However, the land cover and use change data show inconsistent
trends, which do not allow for discerning the detailed mechanisms of change. In a nutshell, the findings
suggest the need for action, in order to prevent further loss.

REFERENCES

Buhociu D. H., Florescu T. C., Crăciun C., & Popa A., 2013. ‘The Environmental and Social Development
of Human Settlements near the Danube’ in: Sandu A. & Caras A. (Eds.) International Scientific
Conference Tradition and Reform Social Reconstruction of Europe, November 7-8, 2013 -
Bucharest (Romania). Medimond International Proceedings: Bologna, Italy. pp. 75-78.
Buhociu D. H., Rahoveanu A. T., Florescu T. C., Crăciun C., & Popa A., 2013. Rural waterfronts, green
areas and natural landscape at the Danube. Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment, 11
(3-4), pp. 1692-1696.
Coleman J. M., & Wright L. D., 1971. Analysis of Major River Systems and Their Deltas: Procedures and
Rationale, With Two Examples. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
Dandekar P., & Thakkar H., 2014. Shrinking and Sinking Deltas: Major role of Dams in delta subsidence
and Effective Sea Level Rise. South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, Delhi, India.
Gibbs J. P., (1993). Importance of small wetlands for the persistence of local populations of wetland-
associated animals, Wetlands, 13 (1), pp. 25-31.
Giosan L., Syvitski J., Constantinescu Ş., & Day J., 2014. Protect the world’s deltas. Nature, 514 (7529),
pp. 31-33.
Hagenauer J., & Helbich M., 2012. Mining urban land-use patterns from volunteered geographic
information by means of genetic algorithms and artificial neural networks. International Journal of
Geographical Information Science, 26 (6), pp. 963-982.
Heinl M. (2001), Fire and its effects on vegetation in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, Master Thesis,
Germany, Munich Technical University.
Ibeanu O., 2000. Oiling the Friction: Environmental Conflict Management in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.
Environmental Change & Security Project Report, 6, pp. 19-32.
Jansen L. J. M., 2007. Harmonization of land use class sets to facilitate compatibility and comparability of
data across space and time. Journal of Land Use Science, 1 (2-4), pp.. 127-156.
Kuenzer C., & Renaud F. G., 2012. ‘Climate and Environmental Change in River Deltas Globally:
Expected Impacts, Resilience, and Adaptation’ in: Kuenzer C., & Renaud F. G. (Eds.) The
Mekong Delta System: Interdisciplinary Analyses of a River Delta. Dordrecht, Germany: Springer
Environmental Science and Engineering. pp. 7-46.
Meyer H., & Nijhuis S., 2010. ‘Towards a typology of urbanizing deltas, in: Kabat P., & Vellinga P. (Eds.)
Deltas in Times of Climate Change. International conference, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 29
September – 1 October 2010. Abstracts, Scientific Programme, Deltas in Depth. Delta Alliance:
Rotterdam, The Netherlands. pp. 154-155.
McCulloch G., Aebischer A., & Irvine K., 2003. Satellite tracking of flamingos in southern Africa: the
importance of small wetlands for management and conservation. Oryx, 37 (4), pp. 480-483.
Meiţă V., 2010. Ecological materials for the constructions in the Danube Delta. Urbanism Architecture
Constructions, 1 (1), pp. 31-36.
Meiţă V., Petrişor A.-I., & Georgescu E.-S., 2014. Planning, architecture, seismic, construction and
energy-related criteria for sustainable spatial development in the Danube Delta Biosphere
Reserve area. Urbanism Architecture Constructions, 5 (3), pp. 55-68
Meiţă V., & Petrişor A.-I., 2015. ‘Deltas of the World: A Possible Comparison’. in ACSEE 2015. The
Asian Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment Proceedings. Osaka, Japan: The
International Academic Forum, pp. 157-170.

115 | P a g e
Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute, vol. 27, 2022
© Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea Romania

Mitsch W. J., & Gosselink J. G., 2000. The value of wetlands: importance of scale and landscape setting.
Ecological Economics, 35, pp. 25-33.
Pelorosso R., Della Chiesa S., Tappeiner U., Leone A., & Rocchini D. 2011. Stability analysis for defining
management strategies in abandoned mountain landscapes of the Mediterranean basin.
Landscape and Urban Planning, 103 (3-4), pp. 335-346.
Petrişor A.-I., 2012. Dynamics of the environmental transformation processes during 1990-2006 in
Romania reflected by land cover and use changes. Present Environment and Sustainable
Development, 6 (1), pp. 353-365
Rashleigh B., Razinkovas A., & Pilkaitytė R., 2011. Ecosystem services assessment of the Nemunas
River delta. Transitional Waters Bulletin, 5 (2), pp. 75-84.
Reker J., Vermaat J., van Winden A., Eleveld M., Janssen R., Braakhekke W., de Reus N., & Omzigt N.,
2006. Deltas on the move. Making deltas cope with the effects of climate change, KvR report
001. Programme Office Climate changes Spatial Planning, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Renaud F. G., Syvitski J. P. M., Sebesvari Z., Werners S. E., Kremer H., Kuenzer C., Ramesh R.,
Jeuken A., & Friedrich J., 2013. Tipping from the Holocene to the Anthropocene: How threatened
are major world deltas? Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 5, pp. 1-11.
Russel K. R., Guynn D. C. Jr., & Hanlin H. G., 2002. Importance of small isolated wetlands for
herpetofaunal diversity in managed, young growth forests in the Coastal Plain of South Carolina.
Forest Ecology and Management, 163 (1-3), pp. 43-59.
Saad M. A. H., 2003. ‘Impact of diffuse pollution on the socio-economic development opportunities in the
coastal Nile Delta lakes’ in: Proceedings of the Diffuse Pollution Conference, vol. 6. International
Association on Water Quality: Dublin, Ireland, pp. 81-85.
Saito Y., 2005. ‘Characteristics and recent environmental changes of large river deltas in Asia’ in:
Proceedings of International Symposium on Long-term variations in the Coastal Environments
and Ecosystems, 27-29 September, 2004, Matsuyama, Japan. Matsuyama, Japan: Ehime
University. pp. 97-103.
Syvitski J. P. M., 2008. Deltas at risk. Sustainability Science, 3 (1), pp. 23-32.
Syvitski J. P. M., & Saito Y., 2007. Morphodynamics of deltas under the influence of humans. Global and
Planetary Change, 57, pp. 261-282.
Sbarcea M., Petrişor A.-I., & Petrişor L. E., 2019. Mapping potential environmental conflicts in the
Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute. 24, pp. 175-
181.
St. Louis V. L., Rudd J. W. M., Kelly C. A., Beaty K. G., Bloom N. S., & Flett R. J., 1994. Importance of
Wetlands as Sources of Methyl Mercury to Boreal Forest Ecosystems. Canadian Journal of
Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 51 (5), pp. 1065-1076.
Tyler Miller G. Jr., & Spoolman S. E., 2009. Living in the Environment: Concepts, Connections, and
Solutions, 16th edition. Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, Belmont, CA, USA.
Verburg P. H., Neumann K., & Noll L. 2011. Challenges in using land use and land cover data for global
change studies. Global Change Biology, 17 (2), pp. 974-989.
White I., 2002. Water Management in the Mekong Delta: Changes, Conflicts and Opportunities.
Technical Documents in Hydrology, 61, pp. 1-73.
Williams J. D., & Dodd C. K. Jr., 1979. ‘Importance of wetlands to endangered and threatened species’ in
Greeson P. E., Clark J. R., Clark J. E. (Eds.), Wetland functions and values: The state of our
understanding. Minneapolis, MN, USA: American Water Resources Association, pp. 565-576.

116 | P a g e