In this UN Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020), it is timely to celebrate the exceptional biodiversity of the hay meadows of Transylvania and the living rural communities that created and manage them. But we should also consider why – after surviving for a thousand years during a turbulent history of invasions, empires, world wars, fascist and communist regimes and neglectful or interventionist governments – these meadows and the traditional communities that support them are now under threat from globalization and from European and Romanian policies which aim to protect them.