Reducing Emissions in Carpathian Mountain Huts

Background

The Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians supports high-quality standards for the development of sustainable tourism in the Carpathians. The convention provides for a fairer distribution of tourist traffic by dispersing and redirecting part of the traffic outside the current main destinations and sensitive locations towards areas that have potential but are less developed. More evenly distributed tourist traffic can be fostered by making the hiking conditions on the Carpathian Mountains more attractive. Currently, hiking tourists do not have a coherent chain of welcoming huts. The old huts are lapsed or have disappeared and, hence, pose the risk of being replaced by luxury hotels and guesthouses with an easy, car or mechanical access resulting in the region’s definitive anthropisation. Providing a package of technical solutions and legislative proposals for the creation of climate-friendly public huts is crucial in addressing these issues. Creating premises for aligning hiking conditions in Romania to the highest standards generates a minimum impact on the environment and lowers possible greenhouse gas emissions.