Romania by Blake Daniels

## Intro to Romania

This is Romania.  “A country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east and the Black Sea to the southeast) (Wikipedia, Para .1). It has a population of 1.9 million living in a predominantly temperate-continental climate which means their weather varies. It is the twelfth largest country in Europe. Romania was formed in 1859 but was inhabited by 3 groups under Michael the Brave in 1600-1601. They were called Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia (BBC News, Para .1). Throughout the history of Europe there have been human traces going back to 10000 B.C.

## Human Rights

Woman's rights have been tested in Romania. In 1966 Abortion was banned in attempt to raise the nations low birth rate. Due to this through 1966-1989 there were an estimated 10,000 women who died while seeking unsafe abortions. In result hundreds of thousands of children suffered abuse in overcrowded orphanages. The first family planning program was introduced in the early 1990’s through the new government. Due to budget cuts dozens of clinics have been shut down over the last decade. Only one private hospital was performing abortions during Covid-19 at a staggering $720 US dollars. In 1989 a revolution started in Romania. The Revolution was launched in Timisoara. Nine days later Nicolae Ceasescu was overthrown, sentenced to death, and executed with his wife. By this time Romania had seen over a thousand killed and several thousand injured. I found an article with a first hand encounter with the revolution. It was stated that “The last two decades and a half have been hard for the Romanians. The Revolution did not bring a clear break with the communist past” (Thornton 2013, Para .11). Investigations into the violent aftermath have been opened and closed several times over the past 30 years. In 2014, military prosecutors looked into the events of the revolution. They found that no one could be held accountable because of a vacuum of power before things stabilized in Romania.

Romanians are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Despite falling slightly in the last two years, monetary poverty is one of the highest in the EU, affecting 23.6 % of the total population in 2017. 41.7% of children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The income of the top 20 % of the population is 6.5 times greater than the income of the bottom 20%.

## Environmental Crises in Romania

Romania faces many Environmental crises. Air and water are affected by chemical and electrical plants that burn fossil fuels. This emits harmful chemicals such as carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. Not only is the damage to water harmful to humans making their water unsafe to drink. It also threatens a very diverse ecosystem in the Danube Delta. Many species of birds, fish, and reptiles face extinction due to the nation's runoff into the Danube River Systems.

This information was pulled from a report from 2009. This report touches on the impact they have already been facing with climate change combined with poor practices leading to mass pollution. Even then, Romania was facing more frequent floods and tornadoes.
Now we will look at where Romania is with Climate change closer to the present. Through the article from 2017, *Romania: Climate Change and Low Carbon Green Growth program* we see Romania's efforts to fight climate change. The article states through both the word bank and MECC the program “aims to enable Romania to advance towards attaining the “Europe 2020 Strategy” objective which provides EU Member States a framework and means for moving towards a greener and more competitive low carbon economy that makes efficient use of resources and is resilient to climate risk”(World Bank, Para .3). Their idea is to integrate the mitigation of climate change into their policies, and programs. Through thorough planning, developing systems, and action plans they intend to have a professional network and e-discussion group, rapid assessment reports, and events such as workshops and conferences. This article expresses the need for knowledge of what climate change is and how can Romania most efficiently attack it.