Preliminary assessment of the fourth payment request of Romania

Sub-project             Reference to works preserving water flow quality for ecosystem found
                        on:
                        Evidence No.             Page
Casele Bisocii          47                       10
Bucsoita                52                       5
Fetig                   59                       13
Izvorul Negru           43                       22

The restoration of at least 4ha of land through reforestation, weeding, or building of twig fences;

Romania submitted feasibility studies (Evidence Nos. 22 to 40) including planned actions for land restoration through reforestation / afforestation of a total surface of 11.06 hectares, as well as 0.23 hectares of land restoration through grassing. In addition, 1 885sqm (=0.1885 ha) of land restored through brush head plugs (twig fences) are included, as well as fences, wattle works, and similar elements with a length of 1 383 meters (without indication how many hectares of land are covered by these works). Thus, the submitted evidence contains actions exceeding the target. These works are undertaken through 16 different sub-projects. The Commission verified that the target of land restoration of at least 4ha of land through reforestation, weeding, or building of twig fences has been achieved, by verifying the evidence for the sub-projects Izvorul Negru, Fetița Mare and Grefeniș and Schitu, as these three sub-projects contain enough actions for forestation to meet the target. The table below references where proof of the achievement of the target can be found in the evidence.

Sub-project                   Hectares restored      Evidence No.     Page
Izvorul Negru                 1.2215                 24               22-25
Fetița Mare                   1.5                    30               19
Grefeniș and Schitu           1.3065                 31               9
Total verified sub-projects   4.028

The Council Implementing Decision required that the project design include actions for the restoration of at least 4ha of land through reforestation, weeding or building of twig fences. The project design details in the feasibility studies refer, in certain instances, to both afforestation and reforestation actions. For instance, the Grefeniș and Schitu feasibility study (Evidence No. 31) on page 9 includes “afforestation/reforestation of land degraded by landslides of slopes and those affected by anthropogenic degradation over an area of 1.3065 ha, land forming part of the forest fund and reconstructing the integrity of stands affected by the aforementioned degradation phenomena”, without distinguishing between the areas subject to afforestation and those subject to reforestation. Whilst this constitutes a minimal substantive deviation from the requirement of the Council Implementing Decision, allowing both actions of afforestation and reforestation does not affect the progress towards achieving the measure, as its purpose is to reduce flood risk and protect the environment in river basins through a combination of techniques, including planting trees on

land degraded by erosion. Both afforestation and reforestation consist of the establishment of tree vegetation on degraded land in order to restore ecologic functions, therefore contributing equally to achieving the objective of the measure. As of this, this minimal deviation does not change the nature of the measure and does not affect the progress towards achieving the investment that the milestone represents. On this basis, it is considered that this constitutive element of the milestone is satisfactorily fulfilled.

The restoration of at least 30km of torrent bed.

Romania submitted feasibility studies (Evidence Nos. 22 to 40) including planned actions for the restauration of 42.51 kilometers of torrent bed, thus exceeding the target. These works are

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