Communities and food
20 years of collaborative work in Romania
Lasting conservation is built where people, nature, and local economies truly work together
Orieta Hulea
CEO WWF-Romania
20 years in a nutshell
Romania’s rural and urban communities are deeply connected to nature through the way food is produced, distributed, and consumed, but also through traditions, education, and everyday practices that shape how people use and value natural resources and landscapes.
Over the past two decades, Romania has faced persistent gaps in this area: food procurement systems driven by the lowest price, limited links between public institutions and local producers, insufficient environmental education, weak support for small rural entrepreneurs, shrinkage of access to market for small and local producers and a similar shrinkage of access to local and sustainable products for consumers, declining pollinator populations due to the intensification of farming practices and the loss of small and traditional farms, and inadequate mechanisms for rewarding communities and producers that maintain healthy landscapes with High Nature Value.
WWF-Romania has worked to identify the natural values and community practices that gave rise to a lifestyle in harmony with nature and to build together with local communities opportunities and frameworks in which they can be capitalised on in the modern era, taking into account political and economic pressures and threats, as well as unaddressed needs at the local level – all of which are capable of eroding natural heritage, social cohesion and civic engagement.
The common thread is simple: conservation becomes stronger when people understand its value, benefit from it fairly, and are motivated and empowered to act.
OUR ROLE
WWF-Romania has acted as a bridge between nature conservation and the systems that shape everyday life: food, education, local economies, and civic participation.
WWF contributes by:
Conducting research and promoting public policies and practical models that can make food systems healthier, more local, and more sustainable
Connecting public authorities with local producers and community actors, and raising their capacity and willingness to actively collaborate to sustain local economies and sustainable practices
Raising awareness and mobilising citizens and different segments of society around biodiversity, pollinators, and responsible consumption
Developing education tools that help teachers and young people understand, act for nature, and take part in growing healthier consumption patterns
Raising and channeling the voices of the unheard (e.g. youth, small farmers) amongst policy and decision makers
Supporting nature-based local economies that create value from protecting landscapes
Testing financial and community-based mechanisms that reward stewardship and support sustainable livelihoods in rural areas
MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
Green public food procurement helped shift public food systems toward quality and sustainability
Public food procurement in Romania has traditionally been dominated by the lowest-price criterion. In programmes such as the School Programme (“Milk and bun”) or Healthy Meal, in hospitals, military facilities, social canteens etc., public institutions often favoured food that was not adapted to local and seasonal realities, transported over long distances, of questionable quality, and associated with unnecessary packaging and plastic waste.
WWF-Romania worked to demonstrate that public food procurement can support healthier diets, local producers, short supply chains, and eventually a more sustainable food system.
Nature-based local development linked conservation with community value
Rural areas in Romania often face economic decline, outmigration, and limited opportunities for education, professional development and income diversification. At the same time, many of these areas host some of the country’s most valuable biodiversity and cultural heritage, maintained through traditional land use practices such as small-scale farming, pastoralism, handicrafts, and traditional forestry.
WWF supported and co-developed practical models that connect conservation with local economic value, including local economic initiatives (such as ecotourism), local product networks, community partnerships, and nature-based entrepreneurship.
Environmental education helped embed sustainability and active citizenship in schools and communities
Environmental education in Romania has been uneven and fragmented, largely project-based, and weakly integrated into the formal education system. Teachers often lack practical tools, training, and confidence to address complex topics such as biodiversity, climate, food systems, and sustainable consumption.
WWF-Romania worked to move environmental education from isolated activities to more structured and scalable approaches, linking knowledge with action.
Farmers and science aligned to discuss the urgent need for climate resilience in food systems, building on years of policy proposals and projects for High Nature Value farming and small producers
Building on years of science-based, actionable policy proposals and advocacy for the integration and protection of biodiversity, High Nature Value farming practices and small producers in the agricultural policy at national and European level, WWF-Romania teamed up with the National Meteorological Administration and worked to bridge the gap between science and action in the face of new climate challenges. We started by creating a first structured, inclusive and informed dialogue between farmers, scientists, and public authorities, positioning farmers as key actors in shaping solutions.
Payments for Ecosystem Services demonstrated innovative financing models for conservation
Conservation efforts often lack sustainable financing mechanisms that reward communities and land managers for nature-positive stewardship.
WWF piloted PES (in a fishfarm in the south of the country, and in a protected forested area in Historical Maramures, north of the country) to link ecosystem benefits with financial incentives, while testing how relationships could be built between those who maintain ecosystem services and those who benefit from them. These pilots showed that local communities can be rewarded for maintaining ecosystems, while also highlighting the complexity of scaling such mechanisms.
Pollinators gained public visibility and policy traction in Romania
Despite their critical role in food production and ecosystem health, there is no integrated national approach to pollinator conservation, and public awareness remained limited, often focused only on honeybees rather than the broader diversity of wild pollinators.
Our approach focused on: building a broad coalition across civil society, research, and agriculture; generating scientific evidence on pollinator status and risks; mobilising citizens; engaging policymakers to open a science-based dialogue on proposed integrated solutions targeting pollinator species in need of protection in Romania (“umbrella-species”). Since 2025, we also started developing local partnerships in Bucharest to create pollinator habitats together with companies and grassroots organisations, connecting local action with European policy priorities such as the New Deal for Pollinators, the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, and the Nature Restoration Law.
A few numbers
Brașov was the first city in Romania to take over the School Program from the County Council and introduce quality-price criteria for food procurement. The criteria included:
- at least 10% certified organic products,
- at least 30% of products from local producers, farmers, cooperatives, or associations,
- at least 10% of products supplied through short distribution chains.
Then Brașov also introduced educational measures linked to food awareness, a first such example. Children from public and accredited private schools and kindergartens were invited to visit the farms supplying food through the School Programme.
The city became a successful pilot case generating changes at national level, as the the Ministry of Agriculture adopted the quality-price ratio in the standard documentation for the School Programme and introduced quality criteria related to food certification schemes and supply chains. This change has a potential impact on more than 1.9 million beneficiaries every school year.
>1.900.000
children can now benefit from foods selected on quality criteria every school year
>200
PUBLIC SERVANTS AND LOCAL PRODUCERS TRAINED IN USING GREEN CRITERIA IN FOOD PROCUREMENT AND IN PARTICIPATING IN THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SYSTEM RESPECTIVELY
Two ecotourism destinations
EcoMaramureș and Transylvanian Highlands
WWF supported and co-developed with local actors two national ecotourism destinations – EcoMaramureș and Transylvanian Highlands – which were officially designated in 2014 and 2022. This work included:
- Over 500 km of biking and walking trails
- A growing local ecotourism network (80+ members) in Transylvanian Highlands, supporting services, products, and experiences rooted in nature and culture
- Registration of the “Colinele Transilvaniei” brand and contribution to the establishment of a local association to manage the destination and its standards
- Certifying local guesthouses in ecotourism, in EcoMaramureș
- Communications materials which highlight the natural and cultural heritage of the two areas, educational kits and programmes which engaged over 300 teachers
- Business plans and capacity building for local entrepreneurs in craftsmanship
- Cincșor visitor centre
- A pilot scheme and registered trademark to certify High Nature Value foods
- Certifying local forest operators in the FSC system
„TARA” LANDSCAPE OBSERVATORY
WEWILDER CAMPUS
GUGULANDIA ARMENIȘ COOPERATIVE
The “Tara” Landscape and Wildlife Observatory, built through a design & build camp with Camposaz, is a fundamental pillar in the local ecotourism development strategy in the Țarcu Mountains.
It has been successfully integrated into the local trail network, becoming a major point of interest, and the success of this prototype has provided the expertise and confidence needed to develop more complex projects, such as the MuMA Hut and the entire WeWilder Campus.
WeWilder is a “mothership” for the creation of an “eco-economy” in Armeniș, with bison as the headliner. The campus is the starting point for guests in programmes of knowledge and exploration of wildlife, following the footsteps of free bison, in the mosaic agricultural landscape where we carry out learning experiences alongside locals. It is also a community hub for the incubation of local initiatives – trainings, experience exchanges, consultations with the community take place here, through which locals gain courage and form teams to carry out economic activities with a positive impact on nature.
Impact generated by WeWilder:
- 70,000 euros/year in community income generated by activities hosted by the campus
- Demonstration that a nature conservation initiative – reintroducing the bison into the natural environment from which it disappeared 200 years ago – can be the standard for a local nature-based economy
- Over 1,000 guests since 2023
- 5 jobs in the community
- 100 local farmers and over 30 small producers and artisans from Romania provide ingredients, products and services for the campus
- A reference space from the perspective of sustainable architecture (techniques, materials, treatments) that brings esteem to the superior valorisation of wood
- All ingredients or products used on the campus come from locals, small producers, social enterprises, fair trade, organic products
- The European Parliament selected WeWilder Campus as an example of regenerative tourism for Romania
- Cultivating trust between members the local community, which created favourable conditions for the establishment of the Gugulandia Armeniș Cooperative, with 11 members – WeWilder and 10 households with 2-3 generations of farmers each
>11
EDUCATION INITIATIVES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
WWF’s environmental education work has contributed to building a generation of teachers, students and young citizens better equipped to understand and act for nature, through initiatives such as:
- The first optional environmental course for grades 5-8 – „Green Schools” (implemented in over 120 classes in 41 counties) and the university course „Education for Sustainable Development” (still taught at the Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest)
- Contribution to the creation of the Green Week programme
- European Schools for a Living Planet (ESFALP)
- Black Sea Book
- Active Youth Wildlife Clubs in the Carpathians of Southwestern Romania, the Danube and the Danube Delta
- Picnic Basket
- Climate Heroes – Voices of Young People for Sustainable Living
- Zero Plastic Patrol
- One Planet City Challenge
- Earth Hour
- „Beyond the Horizon” comic book collection
2 PES SCHEMES (PAYMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES) - THE FIRST ONES IN ROMANIA
An innovative initiative for Romania, with the role of integrating the value of the benefits we receive from nature into a responsible relationship between those who manage land or natural areas, on the one hand, and on the other hand the beneficiaries/users of environmental services resulting from sustainable land management, especially businesses, tourists, etc.
Achievements:
- The first PES scheme in a fish farm in Romania, the Ciocănești farm in Călărași, designed as a reward for additional commitments to the existing legislative framework – a set of sustainable aquaculture measures for the conservation of birds in the Natura 2000 site and guaranteeing fishing activity at the same time
- In historical Maramures, the first PES scheme based on the repositioning of protected areas as a driver for sustainable local development, the creation of the Local Development and Conservation Fund through which the thematic trail „The Story Trail” in the Royal Forest (Ocna Șugatag) was realised, with the involvement of local craftsmen and young people from the community
THE FIRST INTEGRATED INITIATIVE FOR THE PROTECTION OF POLLINATORS
14.000
SIGNATURES
5000
MESSAGES
The first initiative to address the issue of pollinator species decline in an integrated manner – a theme with systemic impact (agriculture, pesticides, public health, green spaces/urban development, education and research, beekeeping, etc.), with public mobilisation, field research, bringing together young people and experts, and demonstrative urban actions.
Achievements:
- First national prototype competition for a mobile application to inform and mobilise people to save pollinators
- Public petition for a national action plan for pollinator conservation, with >14,000 signatures and 5,000 messages about what people want to happen to protect pollinators
- First group dedicated to saving pollinators, at civil society level, consisting of 14 organisations and 20 experts from different fields (research, beekeeping, agriculture, biology, ecology, entomology)
- Field research in the Transylvanian Highlands, using an innovative methodology developed by Beeodiversity, through which we detected illegal pesticides in pollen collected by bees (including imidacloprid), but also the remarkable floristic diversity in the area
- First analysis on the pollinator species in Romania that should be targeted with conservation measures – umbrella species/priority species
- The first roundtables at government level discussing the situation of pollinators and the need for an integrated national plan to protect them, organised together with the Department for Sustainable Development of the Government of Romania
- The first Youth Manifesto for Pollinators, produced by 5 of the most important youth organisations and launched in the Government, at the roundtables
- Local partnerships in Bucharest, with grassroots organisations, for the creation of habitats for pollinators – first intervention: redevelopment of the garden at the Map Museum, by transplanting 100 perennials and planting another 50 perennials and 135 spring bulbs, all with ecological value for pollinators
THANK YOU!
In these 20 years of activity, we have had reliable partners from NGOs and public institutions, from the cultural sector, from academia, from the media, to whom we thank for the passion and knowledge they put at the service of the common good, for their trust and openness to working together.
Looking ahead
Building on proven local solutions and long-term partnerships, we want to focus on:
Scaling up green/organic food procurement
Integrating pollinator protection into agricultural and national policies
Supporting small-scale producers and strengthening local/short value chains
Strengthening local nature-based economies and governance
Scaling up innovative financing mechanisms for nature management
Integrating education, behavior and consumer choices
