Preserving the Carpathians: A Transnational History of Nature Protection Movements in the Southeastern Carpathian Mountains up to the Interwar Period

• In Event: Mountains in Transition: Tracing the Environmental History of the Southeastern Carpathians Mountains

Abstract

This paper explores the history of several nature protection movements in the Southeastern Carpathian Mountains up until the interwar period, exploring the origins and evolution of early conservation efforts that began in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and continued to develop in the successor Romanian nation-state. It traces the complex relationship between anthropogenic extractive interventions into nature and the development of environmental awareness, focusing on the key actors – mountaineers, scientists, policy makers, and local communities – who contributed to the recognition of the Carpathian Mountains as a site of both natural and national significance. The study highlights early attempts to protect the unique alpine landscapes, including the establishment of the first natural reserves and national parks, the influence of global conservation movements on regional practices, and the challenges posed by imperial and nation-state political change. In doing so, it seeks to examine how local naturalists, foresters and alpine associations envisioned the natural environment in biological deterministic terms and how this reaction determined the strategies and outcomes of localized conflicts and tensions over access to natural resources. By situating the Southeastern Carpathians within the broader context of global conservation movements, the study aims to deepen our understanding of how Europe’s semi-peripheral alpine landscape was recognized and contested during a period of crucial historical and political change.

Author

• Cosmin Koszor Codrea, New Europe College