The urban landscape of Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, is dominated by communist-era accommodation blocks and the monumental, megalomaniacal architecture of Ceaușescu. It is a city that is at once full of parks, large and small, but notorious for its traffic and air pollution. The Anglican Church of the Resurrection embodies this tension, sat between two parks but only a stone’s throw from one of the arterial six-lane boulevards. The church has teamed up with Asociața Parcul Natural Văcărești, working on a project called Natura dintre Blocuri (‘Nature between the Blocks’) to explore ways of promoting urban biodiversity.
Recommendations
A team from Parcul Natural Văcărești came to visit and advised us on how we could develop an area on the south side of the church into a wild garden using local wildflower seeds to encourage moths and bees. On the north side, we have a tall yew tree into which they suggested placing bat and bird boxes to encourage nesting by pipistrelles, pine martins, bluetits and sparrows. On a flat part of the church roof, they suggested that we place bee hotels for solitary bees. The railings outside will be an ideal place to put a sign explaining the measures we have taken for the many people who pass by the church. This is the first project in Bucharest of a church promoting biodiversity, and we hope that by providing information we can create a ripple effect, prompting others to take similar measures.
Citizen Science
We are already seeing an increase in plant and insect species present in the area around the church. We plan to run a citizen science survey using the app iNaturalist to document the variety of species present. We will run this at the start of the biodiversity project and again after the measures (nesting boxes, wildflowers) have had a chance to bed in. We hope that this will raise awareness of the rich potential for biodiversity in the area.
Funding for the Project
The approaching autumn is a good time to begin this project, and in order to proceed, we are looking for funding of roughly 600 Euros. This will enable us to purchase the equipment as well as the signage that will explain the project and engage the public. The installation will be conducted by the team from Parcul Natural Văcărești, the church community and other local community groups. If you think you can help us by sponsoring this project, we would love to hear from you. Please write to me at anglicanbucharest@gmail.com.