Sand is overrunning Oltenia,
a historical region in southern Romania. It’s getting hotter and drier, with
sandstorms now reaching all the way to Bucharest. As they try to prevent the
worst, environmentalists are turning to reforestation.
The effects
of climate change can be clearly seen and felt in the Romanian region of
Oltenia. Where once green meadows and forests lined the banks of the River
Danube, swathes of sand are now expanding. The area in question now covers more
than 800 square kilometers along the Danube. Wind blows sand into villages, and
even as far as the capital, Bucharest, more than 200 kilometers away. It’s the
result of a combination of global warming and reckless agricultural policies.
In the 1970s and 1980s, dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu had forests cut down and
lakes drained as he sought to promote large-scale agricultural production.
Environmentalists,
entrepreneurs and local politicians are now trying to stop the ongoing
devastation in the south of their country. Bucharest lawmaker and environmental
activist Octavian Berceanu travels regularly to the region, in order to
discover the main causes of the desertification. Together with forestry
engineer Dan Popescu, he wants to convince locals and officials to plant new
trees in fields that have become unusable.
Farmers can
hardly grow any crops in the sandy soil. Even undemanding cereals like corn no
longer find sufficient nutrients there. Desperate farmers are now mainly
growing even less demanding melon crops.
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