Ruxandra M. Petrescu-Mag

Babeș-Bolyai University | UBB · Department of Environmental Science

This research delves into the emerging paradigm of biocultural systems, focusing on the intricate social-ecological dynamics which created and maintained an ancient farming system, the European wood-pastures. Innovatively conceptualizing wood-pastures as biocultural systems, this study employs a network approach to unravel the complex interactions...

The valorization of misshapen fruits and vegetables (FV) offers a promising approach to tackling food waste by addressing deeply ingrained aesthetic preferences that influence consumer behavior. Embracing these imperfect yet nutritious products reduces food waste and also challenges the societal standards of beauty in produce, encouraging a broader...

The present study investigates environmental perceptions in Romania, emphasizing their role in shaping individual and collective responses to ecological challenges. By exploring how people understand and interact with their natural environment, the research aims to explore values, needs, behaviors, and motivations that drive pro-environmental actio...

Land degradation (LD) is driven by many factors resulting from the intricate interplay between natural and socio-economic systems, which adds dynamism and complexity to this phenomenon. The study highlights LD as a source of social vulnerability in the Baragan Plain (Romania), often called the “granary of Europe” due to its century-long history of...

Globally, agriculture is regarded as the pivot of independence and economic development. Threats to Iranian agriculture are serious and their management calls for the application of passive defense principles. The lack of structural mechanisms, poor knowledge, and poor skills in human resources are the main obstacles to the deployment of passive de...

Fruit and vegetable (FV) waste poses significant challenges to agricultural sustainability, causing resource inefficiencies, environmental degradation, economic loss, and social inequalities. Farmers are the most important stakeholders in minimizing FV waste in primary production, and any intervention must consider their attitudes and perspectives....

Food always has been, and continues to be, a very sensitive topic [...]

Background Media are the interface between scientists and citizens, communicating and interpreting the risk message and powerfully influencing individual awareness, public debate, and, hence, people’s behavior. Pollution by microplastics (MPs), a threat to public health and terrestrial and marine ecosystems, has received research, media, and public...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the fragility of the global food system, sending shockwaves across countries' societies and economy. This has presented formidable challenges to sustaining a healthy and resilient lifestyle. The objective of this study is to examine the food consumption patterns and assess diet diversity indicators, pri...

Fruit waste occurs at all stages of the supply chain. Thus, a single behavior or stakeholder cannot be identified as responsible for fruit wasted. It should be instead considered that a combination of multiple behaviors can increase or decrease the possibility of fruit being wasted. In this context, research on behaviors leading to waste minimizati...

Background Although many studies testify to consumer behavior’s role in the context of waste-related sustainability objectives, little research examined what people know, think, and feel about the environmental impacts of their personal protective equipment (PPE) or their behavior towards them, in general. Therefore, the present article complements...

Background The study of climate change through a generational lens is meaningful when one considers the distinct attitudes, behaviors, values, and motivations of each generation. Individuals born between 1980 and 1999, referred to as the Millennial Generation (Millennials) and individuals born up to five years before or after 2000, referred to as G...

This study identifies the most relevant causes of food waste according to the perceptions of key stakeholders in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Community-Based System Dynamics (CBSD), a qualitative approach, was used to reveal the determinants of food waste. CBSD was intended to encourage the system thinking of participants in the field of food waste. Conse...

The present study endorses the point of purchase (POP) as a ‘decision point’ for the distribution of misshapen fruits and vegetables (FVs) and a contributor to reducing food waste. We have explored the influence of POP type on consumer perceptions of tomato shape abnormality and its purchase probability, and the moderating role of the actual tomato...

Individual responsibility and the development of “green virtues” are a rich field of exploration within the topic of climate change. However, despite the growing number of research dedicated to climate change, there is room for a better understanding of what climate change consciousness is. In this regard, the paper attempts to define climate chang...

Widely explored in literature, yet it is unclear which food quality cues consumers find most relevant. The increasing consumers’ concern for sustainability aspects in their food buying decisions warrants special attention to environmental-social aspects as food quality indicators. Consequently, this study explores consumer evaluation of food qualit...

The way people perceive climate change scientific evidence becomes relevant in motivating or demotivating their climate actions. Climate change is one of the most publicized topics globally, and media has become an important “validator” of science. Therefore, science has become more exposed to criticism. Even when most scientists, decision makers,...

The degree to which economic goals have been prioritized over environmental and social objectives has caused dissatisfaction with conventional agricultural practices and stimulated the adoption of sustainable farming methods. One way to consider the multidimensionality of sustainable agriculture is to refer to indicators, more precisely, to agri-en...

Climate change adaptation at the farm level is vital to counterbalance rural poverty and maintain a sustainable agriculture ecosystem. Despite the many unknowns about what determines farmers’ adaptation, traditional knowledge on landraces (LRs) cultivation has demonstrated great potential for community-based climate change adaptation. The present s...

History, economy, policy arrangements, and individual choices can all explain changes in ruralness. The rural transformation represents the main focus of this study which is intended to be a journey in the past to discover the present and understand the future, figuratively marked by the expression “from scythe to smartphone”. The objective of the...

Climate and environmental-related challenges are high on the agenda of the European Union (EU). One priority is to redesign the existing food system into a more sustainable one, where the link between healthy people and a balanced environment is considered. The EU bets on the role of insect farming in supporting the transition toward healthier and...

Globally, the consumption of herbal supplements is on an upward trend. As the food supplement industry thrives, so does the need for consumers’ awareness of health risks. This contribution is grounded on two assumptions. Firstly, not always “wild” is a food quality attribute, and secondly, the food chain is judged as a noteworthy route for human ex...

Home composting is judged as an effective municipal waste management option in which household contribution is essential, but it has a low adoption. The objectives of the study were to determine the factors that influence home composting intention and identify the moderating role of composting knowledge in the model, using the combined model of the...

This contribution aimed to highlight the importance of the legal framework on human-dog interactions to better understand the “more‐than‐human cosmopolitanism”. Thus, it gives insight into the never-ending debate of how we can share the living space with other forms of life. The study acknowledged the inconsistencies between community members’ and...

COVID-19 is a humanitarian challenge that puts a spotlight on the need to understand the new provocations and how to prevent the escalation of different types of conflict. The present contribution gravitates around three major problems – foreign land grab, COVID-19 pandemic, and xenophobia. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study th...

Foreign land grabbing is acknowledged as a phenomenon that generates disempowerment and dispossession of local farmers, human rights violations. Previous studies have revealed the lack of ethical benchmarks in foreign large-scale land transactions that raise moral concerns. It is evident that when resources are scarce and people depend on them, the...

Human creativity opens new ways for the fulfillment of needs. It becomes increasingly difficult to predict which resources will be hunted and which will become unattractive. Even so, the conquest of new lands remains a dominant hallmark of all societies, regardless of technological advancements or human rights recognition. Access to and use of natu...

The present study seeks to introduce the European Christian community to the debate on environmental degradation while displaying its important role and theological perspectives in the resolution of the environmental crisis. The fundamental question authors have asked here is if Christianity supports pro-environmental attitudes compared to other re...

The 2020 quarantine demonstrated that online food purchase has become one of the main protagonists of the pandemic. The present study valued the Internet as a mediator between producers and consumers with the power to create new demand for Romanian traditional food during the COVID-19 crisis. Authors aimed at carrying out an exploratory research ab...

Agriculture is a key player in the conservation of natural resources and cultural landscapes and one of the most prominent interfaces between human activity and soil. The present paper reveals a social perspective on soil functions. In this context, it was assumed that perceptions of soil functions could transform themselves into components of agro...

The Special Issue (SI) “Environmental Risk Mitigation for Sustainable Land Use Development” presents seventeen interrelated papers addressing the key concept of environmental risk mitigation and sustainable land use development. The issue argues that risk mitigation depends directly on the risk assessment analysis and the quality of applied measure...

The last few decades testify that consumers' concerns for healthier lifestyles and environment care are driving forces for reshaping food buying intentions and their perspectives on food quality. The present study identifies the importance that consumers attach to quality, health, and environment selected cues of purchased food products. More preci...

Farmers’ knowledge and perception of risks associated with pesticides are core issues in adopting sustainable behavior related to pesticides. This study aimed to find out if Romanian farmers’ perceptions regarding the effects of conventional pesticides on pests, health, and the environment can predict farmers’ willingness to replace conventional pe...

The main assumption of the study is that management of municipal solid waste is a major decision-making issue with respect to sustainable development in developing world communities. Thus, the paper provides an overview on the institutional contributions towards a better municipal waste management, targeting two regions – Latin America and Central...

Food security provides a major topic for this study and the recurring point is food security–agricultural land relation. The analysis is grounded on the assumption that control over agricultural land means control over food. Effective control over land is one of the riskiest issues of large land deals. Permanent supply and sustainable access to qua...

The increasing size of chemical plants and rapid growth in residential areas has led to many incompatible land-use scenarios in the last 100 years. In this context, the authors assume that assessment and planning have their significant role in preventing the juxtaposition of hazards and population, and that, in this field, there is a broad recognit...

The ongoing conflict between the economic imperative of stimulating consumption as part of the proliferation of neoliberal ideals of consumer supremacy and growing concern to increase environmental protection presents an opportunity to focus on consumption with respect to ethical behavior. Ethical concerns regarding purchasing and consumption behav...

An introduction to special collection on “Environmental Ethics: Issues and Perspectives from Romania”.

Local and organic food production is often linked to geographical identity that drives consumers to buy products due to their intangible attributes such as protection of the environment, support of local communities, and preservation of traditions. The primary objective of this paper was to find out if the Romanian consumers preferred a closer loca...

The study uncovers the drama of Stei Baita (Romania), a former uranium mine, which experienced during the communism period, an intensive industrialization. This shaped the territorial pattern, cultural, economic and social relationships, with a tremendous impact on the quality of the environment which was sacrificed against a rapid of a so-called e...

Rabbit is one of the most versatile livestock species, responding successfully to bio-economic principles, which promote a clever use of resources and their conversion into added value products, such as functional foods (FFs). The excellent nutritive and dietetic properties of rabbit meat justify granting it the attributes of FFs. Based on the prem...

Environmental concerns have become an important decision-making determinant for consumers. Hundreds of emerging pollutants and their metabolites are listed as present in European aquatic environments and human settlements are blamed as major sources of water pollution. It was assumed that as long as water treatment is not totally effective and it r...

Disparate elements of cosmopolitan lifestyle, rustic primitivism, inter-war nostalgia, communist ideological reminiscences, and post-communist transformations make difficult to find a community-based solution to land issues in Romania that is able to cover economic, social, and environmental interests. This paper outlines a scenario on future land...

Agricultural land is an essential contributor to food production, rural employment, environmental protection and preservation of cultural heritage. Land, in general, is a finite and precious resource that should receive our constant and full consideration. During the last years, Romania has become an attraction for foreign agricultural land investm...

The study presents several aspects related to the judicial proceedings related to waste revealing how the Court of Justice of the European Union together with the European Commission bring their share of contribution toward nowadays society’s goals of an environmentally sound development. These aspects form a part of the legal backgroung on wich ot...

The correct understanding of consumers’ food labeling knowledge and perceptions is a prerequisite to develop and implement coherent and appropriate food safety policies. One objective of the paper was to discover how often consumers access and use specific food label information. Another objective was to explore stakeholders’ preferences for severa...

Conflict is part of all societies and conflict management can ensure stability and consistency for communities. This study ascertained and assessed a type of agricultural land use conflict (ALUC) specific to Romania's realities and identified a possible solution for conflict management like negotiation. An original structure of the analysis was dev...

The present research is based on the premise that people perceive radiation risks in different ways, depending on their cultural background, information exposure, economic level, and educational status, which are specific to each country. The main objective was to assess and report, for the first time, the Romanians’ attitude (perceptions, knowledg...

The paper focuses on Romanian consumers’ habits and perceptions related to meat consumption, following that it is deeply embedded in their dietary food culture. The aim of this study was to determine the main directions for achieving environmental resilience through meat consumption. The novelty of the study originates from underlying consumers’ co...

The present study seeks to discuss and advance the understanding of land fragmentation and land grabbing within Romania's economic historiography landmarks, depicting how the origins of the land property issues are deeply embedded politically, socially, and culturally in history and still strongly exist in today's collective mind. Scientific eviden...

The study draws the profile of Romanian consumers of organic food, based on a probabilistic survey and adopting an original approach—a dual focus on certified and uncertified organic products. Uncertified organic food (from farmers’ market or self-production) is considered to be more “organic” than certified organic food. While consumers are strong...

The paper discusses the necessity to bring environmental equity within the Pata Rât Roma community in Northwest Romania, relying on the answers to three questions: "Does environmental equity exist in Pata Rât?", "How can it be attained?", and "To what extent can it be brought to the targeted people?" It was shown how a trio of factors tailors the d...

Peripheral, disaster and polluted rural areas (PDP rural areas) are generally perceived as a "Cinderella" of water public policy measures, deepening the rural-urban cleavage in terms of opportunities for a decent life. The main goal of the study is to develop public policy options regarding the supply of safe drinking water in Romanian PDP rural ar...

Globalisation is a driver of change, present in every aspect of our daily life and the food represents one of the main sectors where we enjoy or grieve its presence.The paper comments and argues the fact that an increased consumer confidence in the European scheme for organic food and farming represents a key element in developping the green food s...

The objective of the research was to observe if the nature of the negotiation outcome – business or environmental related – has an influence on the propensity to negotiate and on the perceived right to negotiate. The nature of the objective did not influence the propensity to negotiate, or the perceived rightfulness to negotiate, suggesting that ec...

The reasoning of this study is the idea that the a priori condition for greening the food consumption is an informed product choice. The research aims at identifying if consumers can make an informed product choice using organic food label. A probabilistic survey on the Romanian consumers of organic food from the North West Development Region was c...

The main purpose of this paper is to explore consumers' perceptions of organic food and examine whether organic food products are perceived in the North-West Region of Romania as offering health and environmental benefits or as simply another sine qua non condition to be integrated into the luxurious yuppie lifestyle. The inspiration for our study...

The paper provides an overview upon the principle of sincere cooperation, in the context of relationship between the European Union (EU) and the Member States (MS). The presentation of a CJEU’ case law has reveled an imagine that strengthened the affirmation of a judicial trend in which the position of the MS depends on that of the EU institutions....

In our approach to homologate the first Romanian rabbit breed, Transylvanian Giant Rabbit (TGR), we undertook a series of research to highlight the breed morphological, productive and reproductive features. Thereby regarding morphological traits, results showed 3.64 +/- 0.03 cm hair length, 55.03 +/- 0.48 cm body length, 15.97 +/- 0.15 cm ear lengt...

The paper is based on the premise that access to environmental information is one of the most powerful mechanisms for environmental protection. Therefore, the research is centered on the analysis of proactive disclosure as an important factor in creating a reliable environment for public policies and as a key tool for ensuring eco-transparency. An...

The current paper presents the preference of the Romanian customers (aquarium hobbyists) for different freshwater aquarium fish based on survey data, as well as statistics collected from the Romanian hatcheries, import-export companies, intermediary companies, and small and occasional merchants during 2000-2010. Twenty of the most important compani...

In the present study, fat tissues of small cyprinid fish was sampled from Cluj-Napoca and Cluj surrounding areas (N-W of Romania), urban and peri-urban waters, and used to determine the organochlorine and total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) concentrations of aquatic environments. Results indicated a very low concentration or even the absence of s...

Many aquarists, fish or rabbit breeders have at their disposal for reproduction heterogenic populations as a result of segregation, or due to crossbreeding. In many cases, they must buy new brood stock every 2-3 years due to the fact their old brood stock degenerates visible after several generations. The aim of this paper is to underline that ther...

The development of relationships between applied research activities and policy and legislation studies regarding soil quality and environmental protection can provide farmers, consumers, policy makers and analysts new and relevant information to make right and fair decisions about the relative merits of different food production systems (organic,...

We stressed out that environment and human security are recognized as key factors for socio-economic growth and prosperity and sustainable development. Examples from environmental sectors like water resources may include the EU Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD) and institutional issues for facing water quality degradation and hydrological extremes...

Methane is the principal component of natural gas, the simplest alkane, and among the mostabundant organic compounds on our planet; it is also found in outer space in enormous amounts. Theextremely abundant and natural occurrence of methane in outer space is a starting point in ourunderstanding as regards the ability of matter to became “more organ...

In 2009 we published for the first time our intention to create a first Romanian rabbit breed(Oryctolagus cuniculus) based on Transylvanian rustic genes. However, that paper was not the first official report on the creation of our breed as long as we were still working to finnish it. This note is not either the first official report on creation of...

The paper deals with the relation between environment and agriculture within the European Union policies. The importance of an environmental EU policy as a crossing policy is explained. It follows then, interdependence between environmental measures and other policies, most of all within CAP. The trends in the evolution of the CAP and consequently...

The paper presents the advantages and drawbacks of rabbit production in rural areas of Romania, highlighting the importance of the first Romanian rabbit breed. The need of a Small-Scale Rabbit Production Model as a holistic and sustainable model for subsistence rabbit project development is underlined.

The paper presents the rural development policy as an integral part of the Common Agricultural Policy. We focuses on the Rural Development Regulation 2007-2013 and its accompanying Strategic Guidenlines. Some of the shortcomings of these legal acts have been corrected by Commission Communication "The CAP towards 2020: Meeting the food, natural reso...

Environmental law has progressed rapidly under the combined stimulus of ever more powerful means of inflicting irreversible environmental damage and an ever increasing awareness of the fragility of the global environment. Together these have brought about a universal concern with activities that may damage the global environment, which is the commo...

The paper aims to provide the reader recent information on this topic. We offered a brief overview of main key points on sustainable use of water resources. We approached aspects on water law, water footprint and economic importance of water. We may consider the paper as a research tool for any person or organization interested in the water legisla...

Concepts of Integrated Water Resources and River Basins Management are considered as key points to the question of how conflict can be avoided and international waters be managed. Over the last fifty years, countries have been engaged in more than 500 conflictive events over water. Almost 90% were disagreements over infrastructure and water quantit...