Online map allows Romanian citizens to report areas with ragweed that must be cleaned by law
The online platform HartaAmbroziei.ro, launched in 2019, allows citizens to report areas with ragweed to town halls. Ragweed must be cleaned from both public and privately-held lands by law, or else fines can be imposed.
According to the law, if cleaning works are not carried out within 15 days of the warning, authorities can intervene, and the costs will be borne by the landowners. The legal deadline for cleaning ragweed areas is June 30.
"Ragweed is the most allergenic plant in Romania, and for many years we have had an explosion in the number of affected people. Hundreds of thousands of Romanians have problems, with some cases leading to severe conditions requiring hospitalization," said Victor Zamfir, the initiator of the map tool and platform.
"Despite heated discussions in online communities, which have already started, as they do every year at this time, posts on Facebook or forums are not effective in combating ragweed. We need concrete, concerted actions to eliminate this public health threat, namely reports to local authorities specifying the exact address or geographical coordinates of the weed-infested lands. The simplest way to do this is through the Harta Ambroziei platform,” he added.
According to Zamfir, Hartaambroziei.ro is a voluntary effort that aims to connect citizens and local authorities in a common front against allergies. He also mentioned that the average duration of the allergy period is six and a half years, and the average annual costs of treatments amount to RON 930 (EUR 187).
Despite numerous reports forwarded to public authorities, measures to combat infected areas come with a delay or do not come at all.
"Last year, we recorded 670 reports on HartaAmbroziei.ro from various areas of the country and forwarded 664 petitions on their behalf to 50 town halls across the country. Of these, only 39 were later marked as resolved by users. A small percentage, which clearly shows that there is still a lot of work to be done. Data from the survey conducted through the platform shows that 66% of respondents say they are very dissatisfied with how the authorities handle the issue, and 25% are dissatisfied,” said Victor Zamfir.
HartaAmbroziei.ro offers an interactive map with locations of ragweed-affected areas across Romania. People can quickly add a location with descriptions and photos. The platform automatically alerts town halls by sending reports.
"There are town halls that are absolutely unresponsive to our requests. In a 'shame ranking' based on the history of reports on the platform, the town hall of Chiajna occupies the first place with 77 unresolved requests, followed by the administration of Ștefăneștii de Jos with 31 requests, and Constanța with 30. On the other hand, the most reactive town halls, which have provided the most support for our requests, are Districts 6 and 2 of Bucharest, as well as the leaders of the Bragadiru commune,” Zamfir concluded.
Other NGOs, like the STOP AMBROZIA Association, will hold volunteer actions to clean ragweed-infested areas this year as well.
(Photo source: Wellphotos | Dreamstime.com)
