Tag Archives: euronatur

Thomas Waitz MEP and Agent Green witnessing illegal logging in Romanian Natura 2000 sites – video

October 10, 2020#ForestsEU, agent green, Client Earth, EU, EU Biodiversity 2030, euronatur, European Commission, Gabriel Paun, IKEA, illegal, Kronospan, logging, MEP, national park, Natura 2000, romania, Thomas WaitzWoodland

Fact-finding trip by Thomas Waitz, MEP, with Agent Green reveals that illegal logging in Natura 2000 areas continues regardless of EU infringement proceedings

Thomas Waitz, Member of the European Parliament, and Gabriel Paun, President of Agent Green, are currently (October 10, 2020) on a field mission in Romania checking Natura 2000 sites for compliance with EU Natura 2000 legislation. In a video message, Gabriel Paun and Thomas Waitz reported that they witnessed destructive and illegal logging on locations that are theoretically protected by EU’s Natura 2000 legislation, including Domogled – Valea Cernei National Park.

In the Domogled – Valea Cernei National Park / Natura 2000 area, they even discovered logging by the state-owned forest company Romsilva on a state-owned property on which the Bucharest High Court suspended all logging permits earlier this year.

In other words: state-paid foresters are pushing forward cutting down of state-owned trees in a national park and Natura 2000 site despite the country’s Supreme Court suspending the forest management plans in the part of the very forest district.

At the same time, the European Commission is pursuing infringement proceedings against the Romanian state after EuroNatur, Client Earth and Agent Green filed complaints about the systematic destruction of forests in Romania’s Natura 2000 areas and illegal logging.

The fact that the logging continues even against High Court ruling unmasks the green washing by the romanian forest industry: forestry officials and industry-related professors have recently outbid each other claiming that the romanian forestry is doing better and acting more sustainable than the foresters in “the west”.

Thomas Waitz and Gabriel Paun did also trace a wood truck from the Natura 2000 Ținutul Pădurenilor site to the factory of Austrian chipboard company Kronospan in Sebes. The yard of Kronospan factory is filled with logs from large trees, mainly beech. Kronospan, which is reputedly the world’s largest particleboard manufacturer, said in relation to this on their website: “We ensure that suppliers do not use wood from national parks, natural preserves, virgin forests and other conservation areas.” This was apparently in severe contradiction to the recent observations. (Comment on Dec. 3, 2020: This sentence has since been removed from the website …)

More details you can view on this video:

The location of the primary platform where the illegal wood cut in Domogled National Park is loaded in despite the High Court / ICCJ suspended all logging permissions in the area.

Finally a clear announcement: EuroNatur and Agent Green welcome EU biodiversity strategy

May 20, 2020agent green, Biodiversity Strategy, EU, euronatur, forest, old growth, primary, romaniaWoodland

The EU Biodiversity Strategy aims at strict protection of 10% of EU’s ecosystems – including protection of all primary and old growth forests

EuroNatur and Agent Green welcome the announcement by the European Commission regarding the new EU Biodiversity Strategy. The EU Commission clearly states that „nature is in a state of crisis“ and declared that „at least one third of protected areas – representing 10% of EU land and 10% of EU sea – should be strictly protected.” The EU Commission also emphasized, that “it will be crucial to define, map, monitor and strictly protect all the EU’s remaining primary and old-growth forests“.

The biggest and most precious chunks of never systematically managed or long untouched forests („primary and old growth” forests) of the EU can be found in Romania, Bulgaria and Scandinavia. In particular in Romania, the progress of logging of extremely biodiversity rich old growth and primary forest ecosystems is causing big concern among scientists and conservationists globally.

Lately, conservative voices from the Romanian forestry sector have been drawing the misleading picture that Romania’s high biodiversity value forests are a product of the Romanian forestry system, claiming that 90% or Romania’s forests are ecologically equal to natural forests and try to spread the non-factual picture, that Romania’s natural forests are “man made” and that „forest management“ (= logging) is key to sustain biodiversity in forests. These assertions are in sharp contrast to bold evidence for a catastrophic loss of high biodiversity value forests ecosystems in recent years.

Approximately 8% of Romania’s forests potentially still show a very high degree of naturalness. These forests should be subject of conservation efforts to meet the 10% EU target for strict protection, as now initiated by the EU Commission.

In order to get there, existing mapping inventories need to be further validated in a transparent and cooperative way – also using digital data from forest management plans, which are not publicly accessible yet.

EuroNatur and Agent Green are ready to collaborate with the Romanian government in order to improve forest protection, if it is ensured that this is happening in a fair, transparent and positive manner and the recent wave of attacks against forest conservation is being halted.

Untouched Boia Mica valley in Fagaras mountains: 1000 ha primary forest, but no protection – although the whole mountain range has been designated as a EU Natura 2000 site. The new EU Biodiversity strategy wants to get all primary and old growth forests under strict protection. Lets hope that this does not come too late for this unique natural treasure…

EU announces legal action against Romanian authorities for illegal logging of Europe’s last natural forest

February 12, 2020AgentGreen, Client Earth, Commission, EU, euronatur, forests, infringement, Natura 2000, old growth, primary, PRIMOFARO, romaniaWoodland

The European Commission has announced today its decision to pursue legal action against Romanian authorities over their systemic and continuous failure to protect Europe’s last natural forests.

The announcement follows complaints submitted last year to the European Commission by environmental groups Agent Green, ClientEarth and EuroNatur against Romania’s ongoing and deliberate destruction of tens of thousands of hectares of its protected old-growth and primeval forests.

The groups claimed that Romania’s state forestry management is conducting logging operations within protected Natura 2000 areas without proper analysis of the impact in these unique sites. Failure to carry adequate and strategic environmental assessments when approving logging in protected areas and lack of access to environmental information breaches EU law.

The environmental groups therefore welcome the launch of the Commission’s infringement proceedings against Romania as a new hope to protect the country’s natural forests.

ClientEarth lawyer Ewelina Tylec-Bakalarz said: “The destruction of Romanian forests is a huge systemic problem far exceeding in scale the illegal logging of Poland’s Bialowieza forest, which was the basis of our legal challenge three years ago.”

“The Romanian government has repeatedly failed to fulfil its obligations to protect its forests under European environmental law. By opening infringement proceedings against Romania, the European Commission is sending a clear signal that it takes this problem very seriously. This is an important warning that Romania must stop blatantly disregarding its legal obligation to protect these unique forests”.

Gabriel Schwaderer, CEO of the German EuroNatur Foundation added: “Romania is still home to more than half a million hectares of primary and old-growth forests, although enormous areas have been logged since 2007 when the country joined the EU. Natura 2000 sites are hot spots of logging. EU legislation has been widely ignored. Thus, the Commission intervention comes last minute and we urge to speed up the process as it is the only real chance to save a very large share of Europe’s last great natural forests. They are home to many important and threatened animal and plant species and they store enormous amounts of CO2”.

Gabriel Paun of Agent Green warned: “Imagine for example a single clear cut on a surface of 3700 hectares in Maramures Natura 2000 site, the region where Liviu Pop, a local forest ranger has been killed recently. The place looks like a battlefield and is larger than the entire city of Brussels. We have documented 10 000 hectares of logging in this protected area including in priority habitats made of ash and alder trees. These woods were home for bears, wolves, lynx and many wonderful wild creatures. Economically, at least 5 million m3 of wood in value of at least a quarter of a billion euros are missing just from the clear cuts we documented in this site. But the same happens in Fagaras, the Carpathian most beloved mountains and other Natura 2000 sites. These actions happen in both, state and privately owned forests. The situation is completely out of control”.

Agent Green, ClientEarth and EuroNatur welcome the action taken by the European Commission and call on the Romanian Government to:

Immediately start complying with Nature Directives.
Strictly preserve all remaining primary and old-growth forests as indicated in PRIMOFARO inventory that overlaps with Natura 2000 network.
Protect primary and old-growth forests located outside Natura 2000 sites.
Publish logging plans and forest age data of all forest management plans of Natura 2000 sites.

As part of the infringement proceedings launched today against Romania for illegal logging within its Natura 2000 sites, the Commission is also taking legal action for Romania’s failure to properly implement the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) by allowing illegally harvested timber to enter the EU market.

The Romanian government has now just one month to send a detailed reply to the concerns raised by the European Commission. The Commission will then decide whether to take further steps towards bringing the case before the Court of Justice of the European Union – the EU’s highest court.

Background information:

Romania still has more than 525 000 hectares of potential old-growth and primary forests, which is more than any other EU Member State (outside Scandinavia).

The PRIMOFARO inventory (Primary and Old Growth Forest Areas of Romania), an analysis by EuroNatur and Agent Green, reveals that forest destruction moves ahead quickly.

Despite efforts by Romanian civil society groups to stop illegal logging, the situation in Romania has continued to spiral out of control. The official national forest inventory shows that on top of 18 million m3 of legally harvested wood, another 8.8 million m3 of forest were extracted annually between 2009 and 2013 and increased to 20.6 million m3 annually between 2014 and 2018.