Romania’s Danube DeltaBiosphere Reserve (DDBR) coversaround 580,000 hectares, where the waters of theDanube enter the Black Sea. It is the secondlargest and the best preserved of Europe’s deltas;its dynamic, relatively wild ecosystem supports arich diversity of wetland habitats, numerous lakes,ponds and over 330 species of birds and 45species of freshwater fish. The region has a longhistory and the DDBR includes a number of IronAge fortified sites, remnants of Greek and Romansettlements, and early Christian architecture. Thesite has been listed as a Ramsar Wetland ofInternational Importance since 1991.Agriculture, fishing and forestry in the reservearea are a vital part of the livelihoods of peopleliving in the delta region, including between 12and 13 thousand who live in settlements withinthe DDBR. During the 1980s, the delta suffereddamage from a series of economically andenvironmentally disastrous large-scaleagricultural and fish farming developmentssponsored by the then government, which causeddegradation and loss of the delta’s wetlands andled to soil salinisation and the virtual extinction ofwild carp in the region. More than 15,000 hectaresof the wetlands have now been restored, andmanagement of this vast region has developedways to balance public use with conservation, andto encourage sustainable tourism, providingopportunities to diversify livelihoods in theregion.The Ramsar Secretariat selected 14 case studies for a publication on wetlands and sustainable tourism,to be launched at the 11th Conference of Parties, July 2012. www.ramsar.org/tourismThe DDBR includes 20 strictlyprotected sites covering a total of 50,904hectares (8.7% of the Reserve’s surface), areaswhich contain the very best examples of theReserve’s natural terrestrial and aquaticecosystems. Buffer zones covering 222,996hectares (38.5% of the Reserve’s area) have beenestablished around the strictly protected sites,designed to protect these sites from humanactivities in adjacent areas. The remainder of theReserve consists of economic zones, covering306,100 hectares (52.8% of the Reserve’s surface)which include easily flooded areas, protectedfishing, fish farming, agricultural and forest areas,

and areas where ecological restoration has beencarried out or is planned by the Danube DeltaBiosphere Reserve Authority (DDBRA).The Reserve is highly diverse – as well as the deltalandscapes, it incorporates navigable sections ofthe Danube, flood plains, the Sărăturile Murighiol-Plopu brackish lake, the Razim-Sinoie lagooncomplex, and coastal areas along the Black Seawhich include a tourism resort and coastal watersup to the 20 metre depth contour.A strategy for international conservationassistance was established in 1991with supportfrom IUCN, to create an integrated plan formanagement and restoration of the DDBR. Thisprovided guidelines for forestry, agriculture,fisheries, and tourism, as well as for immediatepractical conservation by individual agencies. Thefirst Management Plan was produced in 1994-1995 with inputs from government agencies,academic institutions, and scientific institutes,including the Danube Delta Research Institute(DDNI), Tourism Research Institute, and others.Ecological restoration of the delta began tosucceed in the mid-1990s, and by today, morethan 15,000 ha of abandoned polders have beenecologically restored to wetlands in goodcondition, with support from the World BankProject ‘Danube Delta Biodiversity’ and thegovernment. During 2001-2002 the ManagementPlan was revised and during 2006-2007 a secondManagement Plan was elaborated with thesupport of the members of Scientific Council ofDDBRA. During 2002-2003 the joint managementobjectives for biodiversity conservation andsustainable development in the nature protectedareas from Danube Delta (Romania-Ukraine) andLower Prut River (Republic of Moldova) wereelaborated, obtaining support from the EUCommission (TACIS-CBC Program).The DDBRA works in conjunction with othergovernment agencies to apply an intersectoralapproach to management and planning on thedelta, in order to implement key EU directives,including the Water Framework Directive, HabitatDirective, and Floods Directive, as well asinternational agreements including the RamsarConvention on Wetlands and the Convention ofBiodiversity. This intersectoral approachcontributes to cost-effective and sustainabledevelopment of the region.

The management plans have been prepared withinput from all key stakeholders in conservation,recreation and tourism development in the DDBR,as well as relevant government agencies and theCounty (Judets) Councils of Tulcea and Constanţa.Tourism is an important and growing activity inthe Reserve, although currently it only providesjust over 2% of the region’s employment,compared to 63.5% for fishing and agriculture.According to data from authorized tourismoperators, 72,328 tourists visited the DDBR in2010, of which 56,256 were from within Romaniaand 16,072 from other countries.The DDBR’s Management Plan 2008–2012incorporates a special theme for tourism andleisure, and a range of projects and studies havebeen conducted in preparing the tourismcomponent. In particular, these have included areview of the potential for sustainable tourismdevelopment in the Reserve, a project on anIntegrated Culture and Tourism Strategy forSustainable Development in the Danube, launchedwith UNESCO in 2008, and development of aSustainable Tourism Development Strategy in theDanube Delta with funding from the FlemishGovernment.The Ramsar