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Tourism is considered by local inhabitants and businesses as an activity that could bring economic development to a very isolated and underdeveloped area such as the Danube Delta, UNESCO protected natural wetland. The aim of this study is to propose the Tourism Impact Model (TIM) as a tool that could be used by local and regional authorities in managing tourism in such fragile ecosystems so that to maximise its positive effects while the honeypot sites of the delta to attract tourists without provoking irreparable damage to the environment. The results of the TIM analysis applied for Sfântu Gheorghe commune evidence that the Danube Delta is under tourism pressure and at high risk of surpassing its human carrying capacity. The conclusions of the analysis show that TIM could be a very useful administrative and policy supporting tool in sustainable development governance if data collection improves in the future.

Dezvoltarea regionala si locala reprezinta un subiect extrem de actual, ce necesita o abordare interdisciplinara din care geografii nu ar trebui sa lipseasca. Dezvoltare regionala si locala. Indrumar de lucrari practice vine in sprijinul studentilor geografi, cat si a altor studenti interesati de acest subiect, incercand sa ofere o perspectiva cat mai vasta asupra metodelor de analiza utilizate de catre geografi. Fiecare capitol contine o scurta sinteza, o metodologie de lucru, dar si exercitii destinate orelor de lucrari practice, astfel incat dupa parcurgerea tuturor unitatilor de invatare, studentii sa poata sa inteleaga mai bine instrumentele si elementele specifice si, de ce nu, sa fie interesati sa continue cercetarea in acest domeniu.

An important challenge for the research on post-socialist big cities is to identify the mechanisms of their uncontrolled urban space growth. This analysis is focused on the built-up urban space affected by transformations from a centrally planned to a market-based economy. Post-socialist changes in Bucharest are clearly reflected in the dynamics of built-up space. Land cover dynamics were evaluated using spectral mixture analysis of Landsat 5 TM (Thematic Mapper) data to map percent impervious surface area in 1988 and 2010. Change analysis reveals (1) a decrease of built space in central and peri-central areas of Bucharest, (2) an expansion of new residential areas to the south, (3) land fragmentation to the east and southeast, (4) a mixture of densities to the north, and (5) the role of the ring road in spurring recent development. A key challenge facing Bucharest is the disposition and repurposing of the lands covered by old large housing estates and shuttered heavy industries.

Societies are committing themselves to sustainable development by attempting to improve environmental quality, social equity, and economic welfare. As such, there continues a plea for holistic development assessment across scales; however there remains no ideal technique for achieving sustainability on neither regional nor local scale. This paper approaches this problem by constructing a multi-metric assessment system for evaluating development patterns across the Republic of Moldova. The objectives of this study were: (1) to produce a local multi-metric index that captures the three major dimensions of sustainable development for Moldova; (2) to quantitatively evaluate the interrelatedness of sub-metrics used for creating the local composite index of sustainable development; and (3) to visualize and interpret spatial patterns of sustainable development across Moldova. A local sustainable development index (LSDI) was produced using household and property composition indicators from a 2005 demographic and health survey for the Republic of Moldova. Total sample size and aggregated spatial reference was 11,066 households and 399 geographic locations, respectively. The LSDI used a 15 sub-metric optimum, equal weighting, 1–5 ordinal scale standardization, and additive construction. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient analysis was used to evaluate sub-metric quantitative relationships, and local Moran's I -test to interpret geographic patterns of sustainable development. Results revealed that a wealth sub-index had greatest collinearity with other sub-metrics. Geographically, Moldova's improved sustainability levels were found in large urban areas, suggesting needed prioritization of development resources to the hinterland. For regional sustainable development assessments, this approach provides the transferability to other locally referenced datasets throughout the world.

Water deficit (WD) typically associated with drylands and poor land use currently represent a major limiting factor for agricultural systems in numerous regions of the world. The present study aims to analyze the relationship between water deficit and corn (Zea mays L) crop yields in southern Oltenia drylands. The study includes the post-1990 period, which is representative for Romania in terms of ample climate changes and poor land planning decisions affecting water resources. This analysis targeted the vegetation period of corn (April–September), the reference period covering a 14-year interval, from 1990 to 2003. The entire analysis was based on spatialized WD data (mm), obtained by interpolation methods used on climate data provided by regional weather stations, and agricultural yield data (tons/hectare/year), recorded in 113 administrative territorial units. Both data sets were analyzed in terms of interannual statistical relationships, established in compact climate zones delineated by Thies...

The analysis of land degradation based on sensitivity models has become a widely used scientific method for understanding the spatial pattern of this complex environmental process that is affecting numerous countries globally, including Romania. However, most specialized studies have been dealing with a static analysis of land sensitivity to degradation, and studies focusing on the process from a dynamic perspective are extremely rare or even lacking altogether in certain states, such as Romania. Given this knowledge gap, the study performs the first dynamic analysis of land sensitivity to degradation across Romania, in the key-period 1990–2018, marked by considerable changes in climate and anthropic driving forces of land degradation. This approach is based on the analysis of spatio-temporal trends of land susceptibility to degradation over the past three decades, based on the Land Degradation Sensitivity Index (LDSI) geospatial tool, computed for the years 1990 and 2018, and analyzed in detail in terms of the cartographic and statistical differences between the two analyzed years. Our investigations showed an expansion of ~1300 km2 (

Land degradation is a major environmental issue affecting numerous countries worldwide, including certain European states. An in-depth understanding of this complex process’s spatial pattern requires multicriteria approaches such as MEDALUS (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) model, which can be extremely useful in identifying lands that are sensitive to degradation in countries that have yet to be explored in this respect, such as Romania. This paper aims to apply the well-established MEDALUS methodology for the first time in a nationwide analysis of Romania, based on various spatial data used as main indicators and sub-indicators (environmental parameters) considered to be driving forces of land degradation. The study aims to map and statistically assess lands with different degrees of sensitivity to degradation, considering seven main environmental quality indicators, four of which are featured in the original MEDALUS method (Climate Quality Index – CQI, Soil Quality Index – SQI, Vegetation Quality Index – VQI and Management Quality Index – MQI), while three were proposed and added (Water Quality Index – WQI, Geomorphological Quality Index – GQI and Anthropic Quality Index – AQI) in order to capture the particularities of potentially degraded lands in Romania as accurately as possible. The seven quality indicators were processed by considering 24 geographical parameters, 14 of which were featured in the standard MEDALUS method, while 10 parameters were added in order to reflect the specific land degradation conditions in Romania. The final results, analysed using the Land Degradation Sensitivity Index (LDSI), showed that 29% (~68,600 km2) of the country’s total area is critically sensitive to degradation, if considering the most complex LDSI model, assessed based on all biophysical/natural (CQI, SQI, GQI, VQI and WQI) and anthropogenic (MQI and AQI) indicators. If considering the LDSI obtained based only on biophysical indicators (which highlight the natural degradation of lands, not directly influenced by anthropogenic pressures), then only 18% (~42,400 km2) of Romania’s territory is critically susceptible to degradation. Spatially, it was found that extra-Carpathian areas are by far the most heavily threatened by degradation. The results provide a full overview of this process in Romania and can constitute a basic scientific support for implementing current and future policies aimed at fighting the negative ecological and socio-economic effects of this disrupting environmental process.

The impact of climate change on agricultural systems has become a reality that currently threatens food security in numerous regions worldwide. However, concrete consequences of climate change on agricultural yields still remain unknown in many countries around the world, including Romania. This study conducts a first-ever analysis of the impact of climate change on maize productivity in Romania, the European Union's leader in maize harvested production, which holds almost 30% of the European maize production. The paper explores complex statistical relationships between the climatic water balance (CWB)/its constituting parameters precipitation (P) and reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and maize yields (Zea mays L.) recorded nationally from 1990 to 2013, a key-period in Romania in terms of climate and socio-political changes. The analysis of various agro-climatic data, based on well-established methods (linear regression and bootstrapping), showed that the countrywide dependence of maize yields variability to changes in the analyzed climatic variables was considerable and reached peak values of roughly 60% for the CWB-yield relationship and around 50% for the P-yield and ETo-yield relationships. At the same time, a significant sensitivity of maize yield dynamics was found in response to a 1-unit climate change, which, on average, was quantified at 5 kg/ha/yr for a 1-mm variation of the CWB, and at 19 kg/ha/yr and 11 kg/ha/yr for a 1-mm change in P and ETo, respectively. In addition to this agricultural impact, our findings regarding the economic impact associated to concrete climatic trends (CWB decreases and ETo increases over the 24 years, consistent with an overall increase of the humidity deficit, and P increases, consistent with humidity surplus) indicate total costs of approximately 53 mil € (or almost 1% of the national agricultural gross domestic product) for the CWB-yield relationship, and of ~200 mil € (~3%) for ETo-yield. It was found that the separate influence of P in maize dynamics was positive, with net financial gains of up to ~130 mil € (~2%). However, our findings show that only the economic costs associated with the impact of ETo on maize productivity are highly statistically reliable. Our results issue a warning about the urgent measures to fight climate change effects on agriculture in Romania, which are necessary especially in the counties located in the Extra-Carpathian regions, highly vulnerable to climate dynamics.

The crucial importance of land cover and use changes, components of the ‘global changes’, for the worldwide sustainable and resilient development results from their negative influence on ecosystem services, biodiversity, and human welfare. Ongoing debates concerning whether the global drivers are more important than the local ones or which are the most prominent driving forces and effects are still ongoing at the global level. In Europe, the patterns of land cover and use changes differ between the west and the east. Property restitution was an important driver of change in Eastern Europe and especially in Romania. This study aimed to look at the land cover and use changes in Romania by their transitional dynamic using Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) data in an attempt to identify long-term spatially and temporally consistent trends. Although generally inconsistent, the results indicate that deforestation and urbanization tend to prevail over other changes, and the development of agriculture slows its pace. Such findings are consequences of unplanned development associated with little environmental awareness. The presence of hotspots where land cover and use changes seem to be clustered can be seen as a feature of ex-socialist countries undergoing economic transition.

Nowadays, Southwestern Romania faces a large-scale aridization of the climate, revealed by the rise of temperatures and the decline of the amount of precipitations, with negative effects visible, among others, in the desiccation of forest vegetation. The present study means to identify the changes that occurred, quality-wise, in the past two decades (1990–2011) in forest vegetation in Southwestern Romania, and to establish the link between those changes and extant thermal stress in the region, whose particular features are high average annual and seasonal temperatures. In order to capture the evolution in time of climate aridization, a first step consisted in using climate data, the temperature and precipitation parameters from three weather stations; these parameters were analyzed both individually and as aridity indexes (De Martonne and UNEP). In order to quantify the changes in forest vegetation, NDVI indexes were used and analyzed, starting off from Landsat satellite images, acquired at three distinct moments in time, 1990, 2000 and 2011. In order to identify the link between the changes of NDVI index values and regional thermal stress, a yardstick of climate changes, statistical correlations were established between the peak values of average annual temperatures, represented in space, and negative changes in the NDVI index, as revealed by the change-detection analysis. The results obtained indicated there is an obvious (statistically significant) connection between thermal stress and the desiccation (degradation) of forest species in the analyzed area, with false acacia (Robinia Pseudoacacia) the main species to be impacted.

Our case study focuses on the April 2006 flood event on the Danube River, which inundated Rast village in Romania’s Dolj County. This was partially due to the highest water level ever registered on the Danube River since the beginning of hydrological observations. However, we consider that the inappropriate management on the part of several levels of government and their regulatory agencies exacerbated the outcome. We initially explore how they created a quasi-artificial flood disaster. This, in turn, led to considerable adverse consequences, resulting from the poor analysis of existing options and from the taken emotional actions. We particularly contest two decisions taken by the management authorities. One concerns the decision to breach a critical dyke during the flood, which led to the inundation of Rast. The second was the post-crisis plan to relocate the village. Both actions appear in retrospect to have been unwise and we explain why this is the case. We also note significant changes in agricultural land use and environmental conditions within the commune’s administrative boundaries, together with the emergence of legal uncertainties related to land use, and additional problems in the adequate public service provision in the post-flood period. Our methodologies involved questionnaire surveys of affected people and the local authorities, the analysis of available statistical data, the analysis of land-use changes using CORINE Land Cover data, and a variety of field observations. The analysis of the processes driving such outcomes lead us to discuss the theoretical patterns of inappropriate and oversized responses to such disasters and a proposed schema of types of responses to critical natural events.

The report released by the Intergovernmental Committee for Climate Change indicates that Romania ranks among the top seven countries in Europe that would be strongly impacted by aridity in the next few years, with climate changes consisting in a rise of average annual temperatures by as much as 5°C. The research work was conducted in the South of the Oltenia South-Western Development Region, where more than 700,000 hectares of farmland is impacted by aridification, more than 100,000 hectares among them impacted by aridity. Research methodology encompassed the analysis of average annual temperatures over the time span data was available for, at three weather stations, an analysis of average annual precipitations, an analysis of the piezometric data, the evolution of land use as a result of the expansion of the aridity process. The assessment of the aridity process also involved taking into consideration the state of the vegetation by means of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), used to assess the quality of the vegetal stratum, an important element in the complex analysis of the territory. The aridity process is an effect of global warming, and, based on the results of this study, the post-1990 escalation of its effects was brought about by socio-economic factors. The destruction of the irrigation systems and protective forest belts because of the uncertain situation of land ownership are the main factors that contributed to amplification of the effects of aridity on the efficiency of agricultural systems that nowadays are exposed to very high risks.

Vulnerability to climate change of the Moldavian part of the Dniester river was assessed as the function of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of its basin’s natural and socioeconomic systems. As a spatial “scale” of the assessment, Moldova’s administrative-territorial units (ATUs) were selected. The exposure assessment was based on the climatic analysis of baseline (1971–2000) temperature and precipitation and projections of their changes in 2021–2050, separately for cold and warm periods. The sensitivity assessment included physiographical and socioeconomic characteristics, described by a set of specific indicators. The adaptive capacity was expressed by general economic and agricultural indicators, taking into consideration the medical provision and housing conditions. Through a ranking approach, the relative vulnerability of each ATU was calculated by summing its sensitivity and adaptive capacity ranks; the latter were obtained as combinations of their primary indicator ranks, arranged in an increasing and decreasing order, respectively. Due to lack of sound knowledge on these components' importance in overall assessment of vulnerability, their weights were taken as conventionally equal. Mapping of vulnerability revealed that ATUs neighboring to municipalities are the most vulnerable and need special attention in climate change adaptation. The basin’s “hotspots” were discussed with public participation.

Processes of global environmental change have had various effects upon Moldova within the last decades, both positive and negative. However, it appears that negative effects prevail, especially regarding availability of water resources during the vegetation-growing period. The impact of economic transition has had a diminishing effect on the availability of water resources. Combined with climate change trends, this double effect threatens national economy and food security, and increases the vulnerability of the population to such change. In this paper, special attention has been paid to analyzing changes in water-covered areas during the transition period in order to reveal recent tendencies and find possible adaptation solutions to the issue of climate change. “Spontaneous” concentration of reservoirs and ponds around big cities was found to be a distinct feature in recent evolutions. At the same time, in initially water scarce regions (such as in the southern part of the country) the water-covered area has diminished even more drastically (by more than 40% in extreme cases). Adaptation measures must be territorially and typologically differentiated in order to achieve maximum effect and diminish social vulnerability of the population.

Background In the past few decades, global climate change has accentuated the intensification of aridization in South-Western Romania, with direct and indirect consequences on the quality of forest ecosystems. In addition to qualitative deterioration, the quantitative changes brought about by intensive anthropic deforestation have created the conditions for a decline in the size of forest areas on vast tracts of land. The paper aims to analyze the qualitative and quantitative changes in the forest ecosystems in South-Western Romania, changes due to the synergic context of the global climate changes and the anthropic pressures of the past three decades. In order to capture the evolution of aridization in the study area, specific aridization indexes have been calculated, such as the De Martonne index and the UNEP aridity index. 1990 and 2011 satellite images have been used in order to quantify the qualitative changes. Results The results obtained indicated that, in the past two decades, the quality of the biomass declined as a result of the increase in the climatic aridity conditions (De Martonne si UNEP aridity index, indicating in the last decades, annual values under 15 mm/°C, and under 0.5 mm/mm, that means that the values situated under these thresholds, describe arid and semi-arid climate conditions). Also, the uncontrolled logging across vast surfaces caused the loss of forest ecosystems by 7% in the overall study area, during the last three decades. Conclusions The severe effects of aridization meant, first of all, a significant decline in the quality of the ecosystem services supplied by forests. In the absence of viable actions to correct the present situation, the extremely undesirable consequences of an ecological and social nature will arise in the near future.

The paper examines the role of SME sector in Moldova’s economy and its likely implications in the RD processes. Several key features of the relationship between knowledge economy, RD and SMEs are emphasized, and also their effect on regional and local communities. Then, a summary of RD particular features in Moldova is presented. The role of SME sector, examined in terms of its performance by ownership and activity types, as a whole and by main firms’ categories (micro-, small, and medium-sized) is analyzed. Small enterprises have been considered as the most adequate solution for promoting RD in general case. National-level analysis is completed by regional insight into the sector as a whole. Finally, some critical aspects of SMEs’ role in RD in Moldova are discussed.

IntroductionSystemic instability relates to the dynamic interaction of the system variables that are under the influence of an unequal cause-effect relation that results into feedbacks and amplifications that change the structure and behaviour of the system. Such systems are defined as non-linear systems (Kiel 1991) that, under the impact of instability, continue to exist in a new form of equilibrium and a superior state of organization or, on the contrary, they may face chaos and a falling state of organization. But chaos generally represents only a stage in the entire existence of a system while instability transforms it after that into a new system with a different structure and functionalities grounded on its former identity and functions.Non-linear processes represent the main drivers of territorial systems' dynamics and their analysis faces problems related to predictability, reproducibility, testability, and explainability. All these analysis prerequisites have one feature in common - instability, which is seen as the source of complexity, self-organization, and pattern formation (Langer 1980). In this way, measuring instability can represent a starting point for assessing a territorial system 's complexity, self-organization, or determination of a specific pattern (system's identity). The evaluation of specific processes in non-linear territorial systems in relation to systemic instability should be done by rather more qualitative approaches than by 'pure' quantitative ones dedicated to classical technical and exact systems (Schmidt 2011, Hellesland 2012, Chesi 2015).In order to reveal such structural changes and non-linear processes inside a territorial system, a specific theoretical framework is also needed to create the necessary conceptualizations. In this sense, the theory of dissipative structures (Prigogine and Stengers 1984, Prigogine 1997) and the theory of complexity are best suited to conceptualize such types of phenomena (Allen 1982, Arthur et al. 1997, Krugman 1997, Ciliers 1998, Martin and Sunley 2006).The theory of dissipative structures is currently part of the complexity theory while dissipative systems evolved to the complex adaptive systems that enter reconfiguration and restructuring processes as effect of the instability of systemic fluxes and relations. Dissipative structures (Prigogine and Stengers 1984, Prigogine 1997) represent open systems that exist based on the import and export of energy within the external environment (Ianos et al. 2011). So that, the system requires the entropy that is dissipated or exported back to the external environment in order to maintain its structure and functions. Dissipative structures have a strong dynamics built on vulnerability and non-linear (unstable) relations among the system components, resulting in minor changes with major impact within the system (Prigogine and Stengers 1984, Prigogine 1997).The complexity theory relates also to the non-linear dynamics of the system's components. So that the system dynamics determined by instability faces different points of equilibrium, non - predictability, inefficiency, asymmetry, lock-in situations and path dependence (Arthur et al. 1997). But the system dynamics is difficult to predict on long term as complexity involves the emergence of order as a result of auto-organization. These emergence and auto-organization processes conduct to (inconstant) resilience and adaptation along the dynamics of the system (Martin and Sunley 2010, Walker and Cooper 2011).Urban territorial systems function closely to socio-ecological systems that are founded also on an identity of their own (Cumming and Collier 2005) and their internal structure relates to the external environment while they are also vulnerable to disturbances so that they require increased adaptability and resilience (Gallopin 2006, Young et al. 2006, Zurlini et al. 2006, Stokols et al. 2013, Garmestani 2014, Sikula et al. …