President Iohannis: We must be aware of the utmost importance of actions to combat climate change

President Klaus Iohannis visited the Comana Natural Park on Wednesday, underscoring the importance of actions to combat climate change, as well as the need to protect the environment. "We need to be aware of the utmost importance of actions to combat climate change, and at the same time we have to protect the environment. An area like this, which is very close to Bucharest, has almost the same value to Bucharest residents as a local park (...) It is very easy to get here, a very beautiful, very pleasant area and (...) the people of Bucharest come here in large numbers, that is why we need to be aware of the importance of these places for the leisure sector as well," said Iohannis. He added that his visit was designed to draw attention to the importance of protected natural areas. "Through my visit here today, I want to draw attention to the importance of these protected natural areas. We have several such areas in Romania and they obviously have a special importance to the environment (...), but at the same time, they are extremely important when considering good measures to combat climate change. You see, this is a very hot day, but the forest keeps the temperature a little lower. Likewise, when there are storms, heavy rainfalls, forested areas retain water, and I think there is no one who can deny climate change. We had this spring and this summer, unfortunately, a lot of extraordinary weather phenomena, we had hot days, much more than ever, there were storms, torrential pouring. You know that in the last weeks we had serious floods in several areas of the country," Iohannis said. He congratulated the local administrations on their plans to expand the area. "You've got a ten from me," Iohannis said. Chair of the Giurgiu County Council Dumitru Beianu unveiled to Iohannis some development projects for the area. He pointed out that the projects aim at the ecological reconstruction of the Comana pond by raising the elevation of the dam, creating a bicycle lane from Bucharest through the Comana Park, a defence dam to Giurgiu, some trails through the park for the thistle and peony reserves, a parking and event area and a social and cultural centre inside the Comana Monastery. Iohannis and local officials toured the Comana Natural Park by boat. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Catalin Alexandru; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Cristina Zaharia)