Governance and finance for protected areas: follow-up meeting

On 31 May 2023, the Policy Learning Platform organised an onsite follow-up meeting to the peer review on ‘Governance and finance for protected areas’, held online for the Municipality of Rasinari (Romania) in May 2022. The follow-up meeting was organised as part of the Rethinking local policies event in Ghent.

The Mayor of Rasinari, Bogdan Bucur, took part in the meeting together with his collaborator Carmen Ghidiu. Among other participants was former peer Maia Lordkipanize from the University of Twente (NL), Dr. Marta Jacuniak-Suda from the Office for Regional Development Weser-Ems (DE) and Wim Debaene from Regional Landscapes Antwerp (BE).

The peer review process partly helped  Rasinari to become the first Best Tourism Village 2022 in Romania. Moreover, the municipality made impressive progress with the application of several policy recommendations:

• Developing an action plan enhancing ecotourism in the region.
• Building a partnership with other local authorities and NGOs to boost Marginimea Sibiului.as an eco-destination.
• Elaborating a plan to implement a new innovative approach in the surroundings of the Natura 2000 site (a planetarium, the possibility to become a starlight destination)
• Implementing a method of payment for ecosystem services for off-road sports practitioners. 

The municipality is still facing challenges in implementing a visitor strategy that allows a balance between natural protection and tourism. The peers commented on some of the remaining difficulties such as the co-existence with off-road motorcycles, the potential for development of a code of conduct for visitors, a communication strategy, the involvement of local SMEs in eco-tourism activities and the improved payment for ecosystem services.

While presenting their specific contexts, governance structures and financing approaches the participants recommended an integrated use of different funds, an income generation through visitor centres, fees, eco-tourism activities such as birdwatching, biodiversity walks, local museums and excursions.

Through this meeting, the representatives of Rasinari gained additional ideas and inspiration to translate the peer review policy recommendation into the local context.

Mayor Bucur and Carmen Ghidiu expressed their gratitude towards the peers: “We are very thankful for the support that we have received and we will definitely continue on our path of becoming an excellent ecotourism destination. The peer review has provided some new impetus for our region and we have already created a partnership with local stakeholders and kick-started some innovative projects.”

For the future, Rasinari is particularly interested in the development of visitor centers, in new approaches for star gazing and in carving out a ‘willingness-to-pay’ strategy for off-road sports.