The evolution process in Holbina-Dunavat area during restoration works

Mainly during the last decades of the 20th century, the Danube Delta has suffered from human interventions that led to dramatic changes in some areas. These interventions consisted in the dyking of large areas for the purpose of agricultural use, intensive fish-farming and forestry, which resulted in dramatic alterations or disturbances of the water balance. This again had effects on the alteration of natural processes, the ecological balance as well as the characteristic functions of wetlands and led to a deterioration or worse, the loss of area-specific habitats. When the transformation measures were stopped in early 1990, the dyked area covered 97.408 ha (22 %) of the total 482.592 ha.