The evaluation of the environmental quality in Romania

Abstract

The evaluation of the environmental quality concerns the analysis of the physical, chemical, biological and statistical features that allow the scientists to classify a territory in a certain category or hierarchic scale. In the model used in this study, the environmental quality was assessed at the administrative unit level (county), as a result of the interaction of different components. Fifty indicators were selected and included into 6 major groups based on several factors (natural hazards, air quality, biodiversity, water quality, human health, soil quality, economic activities) that increase the communities' susceptibility to different negative aspects concerning the environment. Each indicator was classified on a scale from 1 to 5 (1-very good…5-very weak). The sum of the indicators was reclassified according to the same model, until the total environmental quality was finally determined. The analysis of the environmental quality on a departmental level provides the opportunity to identify the regions that need to be allotted financial resources in order to diminish the negative impact of the disturbing (anthropic and natural) factors. At the same time, by focusing the research on the most vulnerable counties, a more detailed analysis has revealed the most vulnerable administrative units (towns and communes).

Sustainable landscape management in Tara National Park (Village Jagostica, Serbia)

“…According to the European Environment Agency, environmental quality is a general term for properties and characteristics of an environment, either generalized or local, as they affect the human beings and other organisms (Surd et al, 2011).…”

Assessing the Local Environmental Performance in Western Moldavia (Romania)

“…In Romania, the assessment of environmental performance at national level was targeted by many researches (Sova et al, 2014;United Nations Reports, 2001Tabără et al, 2013), but at a more detailed -regional or county -level, there are few attempts (Mocanu-Perdichi, 2009;Bran et al, 2011;Breabăn et al, 2013;Bănică et al, 2013) and even fewer were done at a communal scale or by multi-scale analyses (Surd, 2011). Therefore, this study tries to assess the environmental performance at a local level, taking into account indexes related to key fields such as sanitation services, forestry cover, land degradation, expenditures for environment and utilities modernization.…”