AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

With the increasing demand for gold, there was a plan to reopen and expand mining activities in Rosia Montana , making it Europe’s largest proposed gold mine. To fulfill the requirements for the exploitation rights, Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, the project titleholder, presented a controversial Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIR). The proposed mining project is of high interest and is contested by affected and interested public, leading to the development of this public participation study. The purpose of this project is to analyse public involvement in the environmental impact assessment process of the Rosia Montana Project. As the EIR emphasizes that the proposed project area is of low biodiversity interest and has polluted drinking water, our focus was to reflect knowledge and concerns of the public towards these mentioned aspects. Baseline studies, study reports, the EIR, and interviews of local public and local interest groups were taken into consideration in answering our objective. The present EIR states that the public were involved in all the stages of the EIA process. However the results of our investigation show a partial information or misinformation of the environmental impacts on the part of the public, as well as the project area having high biodiversity and drinkable waters.