Austria’s beneficial support for biodiversity conservation in Moldova

Challenge

The Lower Dniester is the most biodiverse wetland of international importance in Moldova, supporting 200 species of birds, 83 species of fish and 1 000 species of plants. This wetland was recognised in 2003 as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international co-operation for the conservation of wetlands. Despite this, the site has suffered from intensive hydroelectric construction, as well as decreased precipitation and rising average annual air temperatures. All these factors have led to a decline in river flow, negatively affecting many fish, other aquatic species, and birds, with increased erosion impacting the entire ecosystem.

Approach

Moldova has been a priority country for Austrian development co-operation since 2004. Austria’s Development Agency (ADA) has been supporting the establishment of a protected area in the Lower Dniester Ramsar Site for over a decade with a total contribution of 1.5 million EUR. It has combined the objectives of developing social infrastructure, such as improved water supply and sewerage systems in rural areas, while conserving the wetland’s natural and cultural heritage. Its successful approach has involved the following:

• Actions at both local and national levels: ADA worked with two local NGOs (the Ecological Society “Biotica” and the public association “EcoContact”) while also collaborating with the Moldovan Ministry of Environment.

• Building local awareness of the ecosystems’ value: in working with and through a range of local partners, ADA helped build local awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and services in the region to ensure both sustainability and livelihoods.

• Supporting local capacity development: the local partners provide institutional capacity development to local authorities, helping them to understand the importance of preserving this ecosystem, and to develop the legislative package to set up the protected area.

• Including small-scale interventions that directly benefit the local population: these are an integral part of ADA's support through its funding of Biotica’s “Ecosystem-based adaptation, climate-resilience measures and institutional development in the Lower Dniester” project, and include sustainable water management, biodiversity conservation, ecotourism and climate change resilience and adaptation.

• Supporting Moldova’s National Adaptation Plan process at the national level: this ensures that a system and capacity for medium- to long-term adaptation to climate change planning and budgeting are in place to complement local sustainable water management and adaptation.

Results

• The declaration of a protected area in the Lower Dniester Ramsar Site (LDRS) in May 2022. ADA’s actions in Moldova have helped mobilise local and national decision makers to set up a national park to protect the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems supporting diverse landscapes and natural complexes, native plant species and animals of national and international importance. The park is intended for scientific, recreational, economic, cultural, and educational use.

• Biodiversity protection in a context of political conflict. The park covers several localities in the districts of Ștefan Vodă and Căușeni, as well as four localities on the left bank of the Dniester River in the Transnistrian region. The complex governance in the region makes it all the more remarkable and important that such a protected area was able to be established.

• Community benefits. The support to local projects has led to equitable and affordable access to water supply systems, benefiting more than 7 000 people from vulnerable groups in the area, while also building local capacity for climate adaptation, nature conservation and management.

• Climate mitigation. A cost-based evaluation of the ecosystem enabled the implementation of preservation, mitigation and adaptation measures, including rehabilitation and reforestation of priority areas.

• A new project between ADA and Biotica has been signed for 2023-2027, with a budget of 1.7 million EUR. The objective of this project is to increase effectiveness of protected areas in reducing biodiversity loss and achieving conservation outcomes through innovative governance models and sustainable management practices.