Environmental changes in the Maramureş mountains natural park

Abstract

Maramureş Mountains Natural Park (MMNP) is the biggest protected area in the Romanian Carpathians, located in the north of the Eastern Carpathians along Romania’s border with Ukraine. The Park displays a complex of richly forested mountain summits, a great diversity of ecosystems, and unique landscapes, which have led to its declaration as a protected area, under the Category V IUCN - Protected Landscape-Natural Park, in 2004. This chapter provides an update of the environmental changes related to the main human-induced pressures characteristic for this natural protected area. Although MMNP was declared later than other similar protected areas in the Romanian Carpathians (e.g. Apuseni Natural Park and Bucegi Natural Park, declared in 1990), its rich biodiversity, outstanding landscapes, and cultural heritage are no less significant and valuable. Therefore, the authors are seeking to identify and assess the historical and current human-induced driving forces encountered in MMNP (e.g. settlements expansion, deforestation, overgrazing, mining activities, touristic activities) that have driven the most significant environmental changes in the area (e.g. habitat, fragmentation, biodiversity loss, land use/land cover changes) to prevent their intensification and reduce their negative impact.