Bucegi forests along the Prahova Valley saved at the Tribunal
Bucharest, 28 December 2021 – Agent Green today received notification from Bucharest Tribunal that logging in the forests on the Prahova-facing escarpment of the Bucegi Mountains, owned by the royal family, has stopped. The organisation brought urgent court proceedings against the logging company and Romsilva, through the Azuga Forest District. They have 5 days to appeal.
Bucharest Tribunal’s decision.
Agent Green drew attention to the deliberate and illegal destruction of the old-growth forests in Valea Cerbului in Bucegi Natural Park back in May. Logging nevertheless continued, although SUMAL showed that the permit had expired on 30 April. The Natural Park has no approved management plan. There is no environmental assessment, and Romsilva illegally changed the Inspire boundary of the Abruptul Prahovean nature reserve to facilitate logging in these old-growth forests. The environmental organisation therefore filed reports with DNA and OLAF; the investigations are ongoing.
Following Agent Green’s protest on 24 May 2021, Romsilva responded by publishing a video apparently showing that no logging was taking place and the forest was still intact. Agent Green had to return with further footage showing how destructive machinery had penetrated the old-growth forest, creating new forest roads and deep scars and removing gigantic trees. More than 5000 cubic metres were scheduled to be removed from Valea Cerbului. Valea Cerbului is the main tourist access route to Omu Peak and has fourfold national and international protection: natural park, Natura 2000 site, nature reserve (Abruptul Prahovean), and virgin forests mapped in the 2004 PIN MATRA inventory, protected by Environment Ministry orders from 2012 and 2016. In 2018, the new Primofaro inventory included these forests as potentially primary and old-growth.
Agent Green tracked the monumental trees logged in Valea Cerbului by Migab Forest. The wood is turned into parquet, doors and MDF boards at the Turkish Yldiz Entegre factory near Pitești, and into drums and reels at the MarMob factory near Rădăuți, Suceava County. The organisation calls on these corporations to adopt social responsibility policies and refuse timber from Bucegi.
“On paper, Romania does well when it comes to protected areas. Such areas nominally cover 23% of the country. In reality, only 1% is strictly protected. That is almost nothing, while paradise becomes a hideous place with no reason to return. In Bucegi, they have strictly protected chiefly the alpine open ground and far too little forest. Valea Cerbului and all valleys with tourist trails, with a role in protecting biodiversity, water sources, human settlements and infrastructure, should become strictly protected,” said Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.
Agent Green calls on the ministry to restore Bucegi’s National Park status and strictly protect at least 90% of the forests in this protected area, including the whole of Valea Cerbului and all valleys with tourist trails that protect not only biodiversity but also human settlements.
