++ Mitteleuropas größte Urwälder werden illegal abgeholzt ++ Dringender Appell an Europäische Kommission ++

Die Naturschutzorganisationen EuroNatur, Agent Green und ClientEarth heben ihren Kampf gegen illegale Fällungen von Urwäldern in Rumänien auf die nächste Ebene, indem sie bei der Europäischen Kommission eine Beschwerde gegen die rumänischen Behörden einbringen. Ihr gemeinsames Ziel ist das Ende der mutwilligen Zerstörung von natürlichen Waldlandschaften, die mehr als zwei Drittel der unberührten Wälder in der EU außerhalb Skandinaviens ausmachen.

Die Organisationen bringen vor, dass die rumänischen Staatsforsten Romsilva Kahlschläge in geschützten Natura 2000-Gebieten durchführt, ohne die Auswirkungen auf diese einzigartigen Gebiete angemessen zu untersuchen. In manchen Fällen werden die Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungen, die schon im Vorfeld bei der Planung von Baumfällungen stattzufinden haben, erst Jahre nach Beginn der Abholzungen durchgeführt.

Naturschutzjuristin Ewelina Tylec-Bakalarz von ClientEarth sagt: „Systematische Abholzungen in Natura 2000-Gebieten ohne entsprechende Prüfung der Auswirkungen sind eine klare Verletzung von EU-Recht. Dieses Problem ist in Rumänien weit verbreitet und daher bringen wir den Fall jetzt vor die Europäische Kommission.“

Romsilva verwaltet 22 von Rumäniens 29 National- und Naturparks. Alle diese Gebiete sind Teil des Natura 2000-Netzwerks gemäß den Bestimmungen der FFH- und der Vogelschutzrichtlinie der EU. Rechtsexperten stellen jedoch fest, dass die staatlichen Forstbetriebe oftmals die Rechtsvorgaben der EU für den Schutz solcher Gebiete nicht einhalten.

Gabriel Schwaderer, Geschäftsführer von EuroNatur, betont den größeren Rahmen des Problems: „Wenn weiterhin ohne Konsequenzen zugelassen wird, dass in Rumänien EU-Recht gebrochen wird, dann wird das gesamte System von Natura 2000 geschwächt. Die derzeit in Rumänien stattfindende Naturschutztragödie ist eine der drängendsten Umweltkrisen in Europa, wird aber viel zu wenig beachtet.“

Tylec-Bakalarz ergänzt: „Der Fall des Bialowieza-Urwalds in Polen hat bewiesen, wie wirkmächtig das Europäische Recht sein kann, um die Naturschätze unseres Kontinents zu schützen. Wir hoffen, dass die Europäische Kommission auch im Fall der rumänischen Wälder aktiv wird, bevor die Schäden an diesen einzigartigen Ökosystemen irreversibel sind.“

Hintergrundinformationen (mehr Info siehe unten):
EuroNatur und Agent Green haben gemeinsam die Kampagne „SaveParadiseForests“ zum Schutz der rumänischen Urwälder ins Leben gerufen. Die international tätigen Anwälte von ClientEarth unterstützen den Kampf für die Paradieswälder mit ihrer juristischen Expertise.

Background Briefing – Romania forests.

Complaint to the European Commission prepared by Agent Green, ClientEarth and EuroNatur, Sept. 10, 2019

Background:
Romania hosts the largest natural and virgin forests in the EU outside Scandinavia which are home to numerous species protected by EU Habitats and Birds directives. A high proportion of these species (such as saproxylic beetles, bats, owls, woodpeckers or forest cocks) depend on presence of old trees and standing and lying dead wood, which can only be found in unmanaged areas or very close to them. A large proportion of these high biodiversity value forests are located within Natura 2000 sites. Logging in Romania’s Natura 2000 sites areas has had a severe and widespread impact on natural forests with a protected conservation status.
Logging permissions in Romania are based upon forest management plans (FMPs), which have to be approved by the Ministry for Water and Forests every 10 years. There is clear evidence, that in many cases these plans have not been subject to sufficient environmental assessments required by law.
There are two environmental assessments which should be conducted prior to adoption of FMPs:

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
Based on the SEA Directive this assessment is required for a wide range of public plans and programmes. It is mandatory for plans and programmes which are prepared, among others, for forestry and which set the framework for future development consent of projects listed in the EIA Directive. The aim of the SEA is to ensure that plans and programmes take into consideration the environmental effects they cause. 

Assessment under the Habitats Directive
Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive requires that any plan or project not directly connected with or necessary to the management of a Natura 2000 site but likely to have a significant effect thereon, either individually or in combination with other plans or projects, shall be subject to appropriate assessment of its implications for the site in view of the site’s conservation objectives.
The focus of the assessment under the habitats Directive is specifically on the species and/or the habitats for which the Natura 2000 site is designated. An appropriate assessment should lead competent national authorities to agree to a plan only if they can ascertain that it will not adversely affect the integrity of the site concerned.
Lack of assessment under the Habitats Directive is particularly harmful in the context of logging in Romanian forests which are home to a number of protected species, including black stork which is protected under EU law.

The NGOs who authored the complaint to the European Commission identified several forest administrations, both under management of the Romanian forest authority Romsilva and under private administration, who apply national legislation in a manner which means that environmental assessments are not carried out until some considerable time (in some cases years) after logging has taken place: OS Baia de Aramă, OS Lerești, OS Spinu Podeni, OS Scara Mâzgavu, OS Tismana, OS Poieni, OS Padeș, OS Băile Herculane, OS Avrig, OS Izvoru Florii, OS Boișoara, OS Alpina Borșa, OS Lupeni, OS Făgăraș. In these areas activities under the FMPs (logging, selling the forest etc.) started well before the environmental assessments, which is indicative of a systemic problem in Romania.

The European Commission has a power, under Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, to take formal action against Member States who breach or fail to properly implement EU law. This action, known as “infringement proceedings”, allows the Commission to require the Member State to remedy the breach, and ultimately to take the Member State to court if the matter is not resolved. The present complaint has been submitted to DG Environment for them to assess whether a formal infringement procedure should be opened against Romania.

Conclusions:
Romania hosts the largest natural and virgin forest heritage within the temperate climate zone of the EU but the lack of effective strategic environmental assessment and appropriate assessment puts these forests in danger. These areas, constituting two-thirds of Europe’s last virgin forests, are being systematically logged and no national remedies appear to be able to prevent this logging.

Legal action in a similar case –  Bialowieza forest in Poland – has been brought before the CJEU which, in its ruling of 17 April 2018, found that the Government of Poland has failed to fulfil its obligations to protect the forest and ordered the immediate repeal of illegal logging permit. Meanwhile, Romanian law allows the systematic logging inside Natura areas without any assessment.
By continuing logging, Romania is not only violating EU and international legislation but also destroying some of Europe’s last virgin forests.