It's not something restricted to regions in Romania. Almost all of Eastern Europe is affected at some degree. There are places like [1] in Ukraine or [2] in Central Hungary.<p>[1] <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/%D0%A5%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C%2C_%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%86%D1%96%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BA_%D0%9E%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%88%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%B2%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D1%96_%D0%BF%D1%96%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8._%D0%90%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%93%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8E%D0%BA_%D0%A1._%D0%92._%285%29.JPG" rel="nofollow">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/%D0%A5%D...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://cdn.nwmgroups.hu/s/img/i/1801/20180108fulophazi-buckavidek4.jpg?w=800&h=533&t=5" rel="nofollow">https://cdn.nwmgroups.hu/s/img/i/1801/20180108fulophazi-buck...</a>
I always wondered if this happened in the middle east, with essentially the same cause. It seems hard for me to imagine that the "cradle" of civilization began in such an arid place, though it would be quite fitting if civilization transformed it.
I'm Romanian and I had no idea parts of Oltenia look like this: <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Sahara+Olteniei%22&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images" rel="nofollow">https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Sahara+Olteniei%22&t=ffcm&iar=i...</a><p>Better stock up on turbans because there's no chance we can fix anything.
Having grown up in Romania, I remember the seasons and general climate being quite different just ~30 years ago, with much colder winters (and lots of snow) and much milder summer where the ~40C heat waves would last just a couple of days in the summer, not weeks on end.
Oh wow. I'm living happily in Transylvania now and had no idea. I thought the rest of Romania was all green.<p>Are bordering countries like Serbia and Bulgaria affected by this? This can't be the only country with unsustainable agricultural practices, right?
Interesting to get some context here on Oltenia. Coming from Transylvania, where water is good and plentiful (often coming straight down from the mountains), I was shocked at how parched many of the villages I cycled through were, and how bad the water from the wells they relied on often was.