Vacaresti National Park turns 5, with 331 plant species, 336 animal species identified

Bucharest's Vacaresti National Park turns 5, interval in which, through daily monitoring, there were identified 331 plant species and 336 animal species, according to the Vacaresti National Park Association. "The Vacaresti National Park turns 5 today. On May 11, 2016, the Romanian Government approved through a Government Decision to establish the first natural park, located in the Romanian urban environment. An ambitious and visionary project which was born from the stubbornness of nature lovers and which transformed a failure from Romania's 80's into the largest green space in the Capital," the association shows in a Facebook post. According to the same source, in the last five years, through daily monitoring, there were identified 331 plants and 335 animal species, and the park's biodiversity is on the rise. "In the last 5 years we guided through the park over 4,500 adults and children, whilst dozens of thousands of people visit the park yearly. The pandemic increased the public's interest towards nature, thus the number of visitors has grown significantly in the last year. In the park there are over 4,600 trees, only within the perimetral pier. Most are willow, walnut, elm and mirabelle trees. The park offers a multitude of benefits to the community, starting with filtering and absorbing polluting particles, halting carbon and oxygen production, to up to cultural and economic benefits. Vacaresti is the largest compact green space in Bucharest, one of the main "lungs" of the Capital. These types of wetlands thus help us to alleviate the effects of climate change, which are more and more obvious in the last years," the post shows.AGERPRES(RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Catalin Cristian Trandafir, editor: Maria Voican)