British botanist John Akeroyd: Biodiversity is Romania's greatest wealth

Biodiversity is currently the greatest wealth of Transylvania and Romania, which is why it must be preserved, said renowned British botanist John Akeroyd. Known as close to the British Royal House, he has been coming to the country for the past 17 years to study the Transylvanian flora. “I’ve been coming to Romania for 17 years now. I work with the ADEPT Transylvania Foundation in the area of the Saxon villages, but I also collaborate with the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, where I am one of the editors of the British Contributions magazine. Although I have a general interest in the European flora, I’ve mainly dedicated the last years to the Transylvanian flora,” John Akeroyd said at a press conference in Zalau, reports local Agerpres. Akeroyd visited several rural areas in Salaj, in north western Transylvania, on June 2 and 3, at the invitation of Laura Chirila, the manager of the Intercommunity Development Association (ADI) Salaj Plus. “We’re trying to encourage small farmers to preserve their land management methods by preserving biodiversity, and to help them supplement their income in such a way that what they do doesn’t affect these cultural and natural landscapes at all,” he said. According to John Akeroyd, who is also known as the botanist of Prince Charles of Wales, it is important for Romania to preserve its biodiversity, as it can help local producers, including as a marketing tool. “The extraordinary biodiversity is the greatest wealth of Transylvania and Romania at this time and it must be preserved, not only because it is beautiful or interesting. It is absolutely vital and, if you lose the wealth of plants and animals, the earth will become poor,” he added. He also said that biodiversity leads to a rich environment for food production, and can also be a very good marketing tool. He gave the example of those who sell honey, who can show pictures of the beautiful flower fields and say that it is the place the honey comes from, making consumers more interested in the product. Prince of Wales foundation to help Romanian farmers sell bio products abroad Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com