Rosia Montana: how Romanians united to save a mountain village from mining apocalypse - The Ecologist
▻http://www.theecologist.org/campaigning/2988513/rosia_montana_how_romanians_united_to_save_a_mountain_village_from_min
Local farmers and activists in the Romanian village of #Rosia_Montana - located in the western part of the Carpathian Mountains - gathered for a special celebration last week.
Filling their glasses with palinca, a local homemade spirit, they toasted not the new year, but rather the Romanian government’s decision to sign off on an application requesting that UNESCO make their village a World Heritage site.
If approved, such a status would protect the picturesque commune - a green haven for tourists and travelers alike - from the ecologically and socially-damaging impacts of a gold mining project led by the Canadian firm Gabriel Resources.
It would also cement a victory 15 years in the making, thanks to the efforts of local farmers, environmental activists and Romanian civil society as a whole.
#extractivisme #contestation #environnement #site_protégé #Roumanie
