important plant areas in central and eastern europe - Plantlife

Section 5
Methodology summary
Criteria summary: there is a wide range of globally, regionally and nationally threatened
taxa in Criterion A. Of these, 93 taxa are nationally threatened endemic or limited range
taxa with no European or global recognition. Ten EUNIS Level 2 habitats were assessed
for botanical richness, including 19 types of unique Romanian habitats, not yet
recognised for their European importance, which could not be assessed under Criterion
C. Criterion C also has a wide range of habitats but more of Romania’s threatened
habitats should be recognised at the European level.
Data and fieldwork: at the beginning of the project all available existing data were
collated and potential sites for field investigation selected.Two extensive field seasons on
almost 400 sites were carried out in 2003 and 2004.The majority of the data used for
IPA identification were updated in the last two years.
Site selection: according to the project methodology, the national selection strategy
focussed on selecting sites of different sizes (from one ha up to 38,000 ha) depending
on the qualifying features and the ecological situation. Sites were selected inside and
outside the existing protected area network. Conservation priority level was also a key
element in selection.
Key issues: lower plants and fungi were fully integrated into the site selection procedure.
The lack of up-to-date and centralised information on flora and habitats was a significant
problem at the start of the project. For this reason, the existing data was checked in the
field and the IPA project provided the impetus for the first national database of
threatened plant and habitat locations. 3,000 leaflets and a guide to the identification of
IPAs in Romania were published, and the ‘Important Plant Areas in Romania’ book will be
published in 2005.This will ensure that decision makers, scientists, students and the
general public will have access to this information.
Protection and management of IPAs:
Total IPAs with National National protection European International
IPAs no legal protection of IPAs (lower level) recognition recognition
protection of IPAs of IPAs of IPAs
(high level)
276 66 National Park Natural Park (2 IPAs) IBA (2) Ramsar (3)
(49 IPAs)
Nature Reserve Geological Biosphere
(133 IPAs) Reserve(1 IPA) Reserves
(22 IPAs)
Nature Monument
(3 IPAs)
As the most sensitive areas for threatened plant and habitat conservation, all IPAs
require national protection and special management to ensure their maintenance or
restoration. Consequently the 66 IPAs located outside the existing protected areas in
Romania need to become nationally protected. More research is also needed to provide
the scientific background for the correct management of sites according to the aims of
in situ conservation. Unique populations of threatened plants such as Andryala
levitomentosa, Astragalus peterfii, Centaurea pontica, Centaurea jankae, Linum pallasianum ssp.
borzeanum,andStipa danubialis will shortly disappear without special management,
including reintroduction.
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