Außer Kontrolle
Urwaldzerstörung in Europa
Rumänien beherbergt noch große Ur- und Naturwälder. Aber sie werden brutal abgeholzt. Sogar in Nationalparks und Natura 2000 Gebieten. Die Regierung muss endlich handeln.
Ein Waldmeer bis zum Horizont...
Europas einzigartiges Naturerbe
Nirgendwo sonst in der gemäßigten Klimazone in Europa haben so viele Ur- und Naturwälder überlebt wie in Rumänien. Doch sie werden zerstört. Jeden Tag. Unsere Video-Doku's zeigen das Ausmaß der brutalen Zerstörung...
ZU DEN VIDEOS!In das wilde Boia Mica-Tal führt kein Weg ...
Europas wildestes Gebirgstal...
Obwohl im Natura 2000 Gebiet Fagaras-Gebirge gelegen, war der Schutzstatus dieses Naturjuwels heftig umstritten. Die Erhaltung dieser einmaligen Wildnis und Naturtourismus werden der lokalen Wirtschaft weit mehr nutzen als die (unwiederbringliche) Abholzung der Urwälder ...
WeiterlesenEuropa's größtes Naturschutzdrama.
Europäisches Naturerbe im Sterben
Rumänien beherbergt den größten Urwaldschatz der EU. Doch der wird unter den Augen von Regierung und Behörden geplündert. In rasender Geschwindigkeit. Der Hut brennt!
WeiterlesenNera-Urwald: 6000 Jahre alt, 5000 Hektar groß.
Der größte Rotbuchen-Urwald der EU
Ein Fenster in die Urzeit Europas: So hat das natürliche Mitteleuropa einmal ausgehen. Urwälder sind von unschätzbarem Wert für die Wissenschaft.
WeiterlesenMonster-Kahlschläge im Europaschutzgebiet.
Ökologischer Notstand
Angeblich war es wegen dem Borkenkäfer. 2013 donnerten die Holztrucks ohne Pause ins Tal. Jetzt ist der ganze Bergrücken nackt - fast 100 Hektar Kahlschlag. Bahn frei für Erosion, Fluten und Muren...
WeiterlesenMotorsägen und Traktoren im Anmarsch.
Akut bedrohtes Paradies
Unberührter Buchen-Tannen-Wald im Natura 2000-Gebiet Fagaras-Gebirge: Im benachbarten Sinca-Tal wurde ein UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe-Gebiet eingerichtet. Im Stramba-Tal (Bild) wird ökologisch gleichwertiger Urwald aber abgeholzt ...
Aktiv werden!Weltklasse Wildnis
UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe Buchenurwald.
Rotbuchen-Urwälder gibt es nur in Europa. Vor 5000 Jahren war Europa das Reich der Buche. Eine UNESCO Weltnaturerbestätte bewahrt die letzten Reste. Der herrliche Iauna Craiova-Urwald im Domogled Nationalpark ist einer davon.
WeiterlesenWaldverwüstung im Nationalpark
Sag mir wo die Bäume sind.
Unweit des geplanten UNESCO-Weltnaturerbe-Gebiets im Iauna Craiova-Tal im Domogled - Valera Cernei Nationalpark ist vom Urwald so gut wie nichts mehr übrig: Bäume abgeholzt, Boden verwüstet. Diese Wunde wird erst in Jahrhunderten heilen.
Jetzt aktiv werden!Wie in einem Fantasyland
Europas wirklicher Märchenwald.
Von den unberührten Wäldern Europas ist fast nichts mehr übrig. Der Fichten-Urwald im rumänischen Sambata-Tal ist echter Paradieswald. Und er ist viel älter als sämtliche Märchen und Sagen...
WeiterlesenUnwiederbringliches Ur-Europa
Jahrtausendelang getestet und optimiert.
Europas Urwälder gedeihen kontinuierlich seit der letzten Eiszeit und werden von der Evolution laufend optimiert. Sie sind daher extrem stabil. Wenn man sie abholzt, dauert es viele Jahrhunderte, bis sie diesen Zustand wieder erreichen.
Jetzt aktiv werden!Endstation Sägewerk
Hackschnitzel statt Naturerbe?
Der Holzhunger internationaler Groß-Sägewerke und die Gier von Land- und Holzräubern hat die Waldzerstörung in Rumänien in den letzten 10-15 Jahren an die Spitze getrieben. Gesetze wurden missachtet, Verstöße kaum geahndet. Jetzt geht es um die letzten Urwaldflächen!
Jetzt aktiv werden!EU-Programm Natura 2000 missachtet
Europaschutzgebiete als Abholzungs-Hotspots.
Ein Holzernte-Traktor schleift einen Biotop-Baum aus dem Stramba-Urwald im Natura 2000-Gebiet Fagaras-Gebirge. Wie ist die großflächige Urwaldzerstörung mit EU-Schutzzielen vereinbar?
Jetzt aktiv werden!Rare Lebesformen
Ohne Wildnis verloren.
Der stark bedrohte und streng geschützte Eremit kann nur in Wäldern mit Altbäumen und Totholz überleben. Die letzten Urwälder sind Rettungsinseln für viele unserer natürlichen Mitbewohner. Werden die alten Wälder umgeschnitten, bedeutet das ihren Tod.
Jetzt aktiv werden!Luchs, Bär und Co.
Die Erde gehört auch ihnen.
Ohne wilde Wälder haben unsere prächtigen europäischen Mitbewohner keine Chance. Wollen wir ihnen wirklich auch noch die letzten Reste an Lebensraum stehlen?
Jetzt aktiv werden!Kohlenstoffspeicher
Klimaschützer Urwald.
In Bäumen und im Boden speichern Urwälder gewaltige Mengen Kohlendioxid. Durch Kahlschläge und Holz-Verbrennung wird das Gas freigesetzt. Urwälder taugen daher nicht als "Bioenergie". Vielmehr tragen sie selber massiv zum Klimaschutz bei.
Weiterlesen
The largest tracts of virgin forests within the EU are found in Romania. But due to industrial logging, corruption and corporate greed, this most valuable European natural heritage is rapidly vanishing. Forest destruction even occurs within national parks and Natura 2000 sites.
However, very few people are aware of this major nature crisis. Therefore, EuroNatur Foundation and Romanian environmental organisation Agent Green will come to Brussels to raise the alarm and deliver first hand evidence of the logging of virgin forests to both the European institutions and the public.
On November 8, 2018, EuroNatur and AgentGreen will create a “spotlight on vanishing virgin forests of Romania” in Brussels with the following events:
– Banner action in front of the European Commission building: Schuman square / roundabout, 8:00 – 9:00am.
– Film screening “Out of Control” (video series about scandalous logging in Romania’s national parks) – and discussion. Kamilou in Mundo B (Rue d’Edimbourg, 26,
1050 Bruxelles), 19:00 – 21:00pm. Entry: free.
Please join us in Brussels in support of Europe’s last virgin forests and share!
And there will also be an expert conference “Europe‘s last virgin forests”, hosted by MEPs Thomas Waitz and Benedek Javor,in European Parliament, Room number ASP5E1. 15:00 – 17:00pm. (Please note: participants need to register in advance: thomas.waitz-office@ep.europa.eu); deadline: November 2, 2018). Here you can download the invitation poster.
Agent Green calls on Romanian Ministry for Water and Forests to improve virgin forests identification
The Romanian environmental NGO Agent Green published a surprising discovery: A field inventory of forests in the Romanian Carpathian, owned by Holzindustrie Schweighofer, identified 430 hectares of virgin forests and at least 250 hectares of forests with special ecosystems. These forests have not been previously identified by any official mapping [1] which shows that the Romanian Government must improve its methodology for identification of virgin forests. The studies, which were carried out by forest experts recommended and assisted by Agent Green in the period May – October 2017, will be submitted gradually to the Romanian authorities in order to get these forests under the protection regime of the “National Catalogue of Virgin Forests”. The paradise forests are located in Arges, Buzau, Neamt, Valcea and Hunedoara counties.
“It is a pleasant surprise that so many beautiful and precious untouched forests are still standing. Their beauty and biodiversity are stunning. It looks like the rain forests from Jurassic Park. The fact that most of them have not been known by any official inventory so far is an indicator that nobody knows how many virgin forests have been lost and how many there still are in Romania. It is also a call for the forest ministry to create a better methodology to identify virgin forests”, Gabriel Paun, founder of Agent Green, said.
All identified paradise forests are located in mountain areas at altitudes between 980 and 1475 m and are mostly mixed forests of beech, fir and spruce. The researchers discovered that the forests are much older than in the official forestry inventories. The boundaries of each forest body have been clearly described on the map and received a detailed description and relevant photographs. The elements of flora and fauna have been described in detail, including the locations of the reproduction spots for amphibians and reptiles or the nests of the birds and large mammals.
If the identified primeval forests and special forest ecosystems will be validated by the Romanian Ministry for Water and Forests to enter the “National Catalogue”, then the forestry management plans will have to be adapted accordingly to exclude these forests permanently from wood harvesting.
Agent Green has been campaigning to improve the forest policies of Holzindustrie Schweighofer since more than a decade. The company agreed in recent times to refuse wood from virgin forests and national parks and to develop a transparent traceability system to prove its commitments to the wide public [2]. The company staff was very open and supportive during the field studies offering researchers unrestricted access to all their properties and documents.
In order to clarify or to prevent arising interpretations, Agent Green points out, that the structured dialogue between the company and the NGO is not necessarily a permanent one, and that it did not and will not involve any direct or indirect funding of the organization.
“There is one important milestone left in this project, the governmental recognition and inclusion of the precious forest stands in the ‘National Catalogue of Virgin Forests’. Meanwhile we hope that this positive project will inspire other private forests owners to conduct the necessary expert studies about virgin forests on their property. If they do so, they will receive yearly compensation payments from the government for the preservation of their virgin forests”, Paun concluded.
Notes to editors:
[1] Veen, P.; Biris, I.-A. (Eds.), 2004: “Inventory and strategy for sustainable management and protection of virgin forests in Romania”, PINMATRA project, co-financed by the Dutch Royal Society for Nature Conservation KNNV and recognized as the Romanian official mapping of virgin forests in MO 3397/2012
[2] https://www.timflow.com/
“All remaining old-growth forests need to be protected to safeguard biodiversity and carbon stocks”
A long list of scientists from numerous different countries undersigned a letter to the Estonian EU-Presidency and the Environment Council (and other institutions), expressing “grave concern and dismay” over the scientific basis of recent policy developments regarding EU climate legislation on forests: the LULUCF Regulation and sustainability criteria of biomass in the Renewable Energy Directive.
The latest proposals in the Environmental Council could create false incentives for more intensive forest use in the EU Member States.As a result, more wood would be harvested to “replace” fossil fuels with wood and bioenergy.However, if the forestry reference point is based on a period after 2009, the rising timber harvest would not be completely offset by the climate.In 2009, the Renewable Energies Directive came into effect, which promoted the production of bioenergy from wood. The general orientation of the Environment Council on the LULUCF Regulation is expected to be voted on October 13.
“We urge you to support the highest integrity of these two strongly interlinked EU climate laws in order to provide regulation that truly benefits the climate. The promotion of an increase in active forest management encourages increased harvest levels in order to substitute fossil-derived fuels and products with wood and bioenergy without accounting for their full climate impacts. This approach risks having adverse effects on climate, biodiversity and resilient ecosystems by emitting more greenhouse gases, influencing biophysical processes and causing additional habitat loss – accumulating evidence suggests that the proposed strategy risks being counterproductive.”
The scientists argue that the promotion of an increase in active forest management encourages increased harvest levels in order to substitute fossil-derived fuels and products with wood and bioenergy without accounting for their full climate impacts. This approach risks having adverse effects on climate, biodiversity and resilient ecosystems by emitting more greenhouse gases, influencing biophysical processes and causing additional habitat loss – accumulating evidence suggests that the proposed strategy risks being counterproductive.
In 2010, about 60% of the European wood is used for (short-lived) energy and pulp, while only 40 % is represented by wood products. Many of these products, such as disposable packages and direct advertising, do not even substitute fossil fuels.
“The EU needs to set an evidence-based precedent on the implementation of Paris Agreement in relation to land and forests – the EU forest and climate legislation needs to serve climate mitigation, consider large-scale impacts on forests and to account for the multi-functionality of forests forcefully,” the undersigned wrote.
The letter calls on EU to make sure that policies are adopted to prevent the use of biomass feedstocks with long pay back times for energy, because these are unlikely to make an effective contribution to meeting the Paris Agreement target to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees and aspire to 1.5 degrees.
In particular all remaining old-growth and high conservation value forests need to be protected to safeguard biodiversity and carbon stocks, they argue. “Already degraded areas need to be restored through national measures and EU wide action plan. In implementing the EU climate regulations and national mitigation measures, the impacts on the achievement of EU biodiversity objectives, as specified in the EU biodiversity strategy and in the Birds and Habitats Directives need to be assessed.”
Furthermore, forest management methods, such as continuous-cover silviculture, which minimize the release of greenhouse gases from soil should be promoted and deforestation should be prevented.