Transylvania is an amazing place. The rural scenes of village life, hay meadows full of flowers and mown by hand, storks nesting on chimneys, a medieval agricultural system that still relies on horse power, cows coming home through the village street in the evenings to be milked. The place echoes with a past long forsaken in the west but which we remember through fairy tales and view with nostalgia.

First impressions can be deceptive. While many villagers live in primitive conditions by western standards and are poor in material terms, this is neither a primitive place nor a living museum.  Many of the people I have met here are rich in values that really matter: family, community, tradition, self sufficiency, and above all a warmth, generosity and hospitality that makes visitors come back again and again.

This beautiful region of Romania has important lessons to offer the modern world. Many of us recognise the dysfunctions of western societies and want to do something to mend them. There is much talk of sustainable agriculture and forestry, local food production and biodiversity protection in Britain, yet the villagers of Transylvania have been managing their land and rural economies sustainably for the past thousand years. The small scale patchwork of hay meadows, pastures and fields are an ideal management system for biodiversity. Storks, frogs, eagles, insects, newts, wild flowers thrive here. Local food production and consumption is the norm in most villages. The global economic problems and high oil prices have less impact on people who grow their own food, don't run a car, and heat their homes with wood from managed forests.

But we are in danger of losing this wealth of experience and natural richness through misguided or misapplied EU policies, globalisation, economic pressures and the understandable desire of people to improve their infrastructure and standard of living.

Highlights

 

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales visited our projects on 18 May 2011. The visit included a walk to an area of seasona l ponds which are the focus of our wetlands research, and the opportunity to meet people involved in our rural development, local food, biology, education and community development projects. Press coverage of the events was largely in Hungarian or Romanian. Links to this coverage can be found here.http://www.poganyhavas.hu/menu.php?menu=aktualis

  

 

Hay-making festival  21-28 August 2011. Our most successful haymaking festival yet, with visitors from Hungary, Austria, Norway, Romania, UK and Republic of Ireland.

We hosted a group of conservation volunteers who recorded an astonishing diversity of butterflies and moths in our region.

Seminar in the European Parliament on 28 June 2011:"The place of High Nature Value Farming in the Common Agricultural Policy" We organised a seminar at the European Parliament in Brussels to raise awareness of the importance of high nature value farming in Europe.

Read about our conference 7-9 June 2010. "Mountain hay meadows: hotspots of biodiversity and traditional culture"

 

Projects to support rural incomes and natural heritage

Working with Pogány-havas Association, scientists, farmers and local communities, we are running  projects to improve rural incomes, support traditional agriculture, understand the ecology and biology of important wetlands and meadows, and identify and protect key species and habitats in need of conservation.

One project focuses on the ecology and conservation of some very special ponds and wetlands. One aims to increase milk quality and value. The newest project looks at the hay-meadow biodiversity and management. 

What could such disparate topics have in common? The natural and cultural treasures of this special part of the world are closely connected. By helping local people to realise their value (in both senses of the word) we aim to improve the rural economy in its modern context, while supporting activities that keep it special.

 

Influencing agricultural policy

Thanks to the support of the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism, we have increased our activities to influence Romanian and EU agricultural policy. We initiated and helped to organise a seminar in the European Parliament on 28 June 2011, in collaboration with RSPB, Birdlife International, and EFNCP and supported by our MEP Sógor Csaba. We have also begun discussions with the state secretary for agriculture in Romania, following a meeting with him and his assistant in Brussels.

In July 2011 we hosted a workshop of grant holders from the EFNCP in Transylvania, and amongst other achievements we created an informal Collation on High Nature Value Farming in Romania.

A second workshop in October 2011 developed proposals for improving the Romanian agri-environment payments scheme.

Support our work
How can you help to preserve the best aspects of this special place while helping the people who live and work here - and who are the custodians of its treasures - to make a good living? Read more about our projects and support our work through these pages.

Our supporters include The Environmental Protection Agency for Hargita County, Hargita County Council, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania in Csikszereda and the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism.

 © Barbara Knowles 2010