Robin Wood e.V. protests against scandalous deforestation in Romanian national parks and Natura 2000 sites in front of Romanian embassy in Berlin
On Tuesday, 5th March, parallel to the meeting of the EU environment ministers in Brussels, activists of the environmental organisation Robin Wood e.V. demonstrated against the destruction of the Romanian virgin forests. Their protest took place with symbolic “logging” of an old tree in front of the Romanian embassy in Berlin.
Equipped with foresters clothes and a chainsaw, they shredded a tree trunk in front of the Romanian embassy to draw attention to the massive deforestation in Romania’s highly valuable forests. People in bear costumes were holding a banner with the following text on it: “No Loggings in Romanian National Parks”.
“The Romanian virgin forests are being illegally logged – in national parks, biosphere reserves and Natura 2000 sites – and we call on the Romanian government to take effective measures to prevent this” says Jana Ballenthien, forest expert from Robin Wood. The environmental activists used the Romanian EU presidency to draw the spotlight on Romania and illegal logging. Even in the Natura 2000 sites, which are actually protected under European law, deforestation is massively taking place in Romania. “The last virgin forests on our earth with their biodiversity and their function for a stable climate must be reliably protected – not only on other continents, also here in Europe. We call on the Romanian government to use its presidency of the European Council to put forest protection right at the top of the agenda,” says Ballenthien.
Romania’s forests biodiversity is overwhelmingly rich and the forests provide habitats for numerous endemic and threatened species. The Carpathians host most of the last virgin and natural forests in the European Union – almost untouched since the ice age. They are invaluable for climate and biodiversity. Many regions in the Romanian mountains are difficult to access and are amongst the few remaining refuges of European brown bears, lynxes and wolves.
In particular, Robin Wood calls on the Romanian government and Romsilva to establish an effective control system to prevent illegal logging in national parks and to enforce EU legislation consistently to protect designated Natura 2000 sites. EU-wide sanctions for illegalities in Natura 2000 sites must be ensured. In addition, logging and trade in illegal timber must also be effectively prevented within the European internal market.
Romania’s virgin forests need help. So please sign this petition and spread it further. Thank you!
