“Cancer” has also spread to Călimani National Park: 70,000 m3 of timber cut in the past year
The Environment Ministry must end Romsilva’s leadership of national park management to save what remains of the national natural heritage
Bucharest, 18 October 2018 – Agent Green and EuroNatur are sounding another alarm: Romania’s national parks, the last vast wilderness areas, are being destroyed and illegally logged with Romsilva’s consent and the Environment Ministry’s tolerance. A new Agent Green investigation reveals massive logging in Călimani National Park, in the Eastern Carpathians.
In the footage, employees of Environmental Protection Agencies stated that much of the logging in Călimani’s old-growth forest areas was unlawful because the forest management plans had no environmental endorsements and had not been legalised by a ministerial order.
Unofficially, in 2017 more than approximately 70,000 cubic metres of timber were extracted from Călimani National Park, roughly equivalent to 200 hectares of old-growth forest clear-cut. “The situation in Călimani is completely out of control. The level of destruction of nature and RNP Romsilva’s defective management are dramatic and impossible to accept,” is the shared view of EuroNatur and Agent Green. The organisations call on the Environment Ministry to terminate immediately the management contracts signed with Romsilva for Romania’s 12 national parks, prohibit commercial logging in the parks and start protecting the rich biodiversity heritage that Romania, a European Union member state, still possesses.
Agent Green investigator Andrei Ciurcanu visited Călimani National Park over the past two years and recorded how old-growth forests disappear from one year to the next. During field documentation in 2017-2018, the investigator discovered abusive logging in the middle of the national park, clear-cuts, forest roads that destroyed riverbeds and contaminated mountain waters, aggressive cable extraction lines, and hiking trails turned into log landings and timber storage areas.
Agent Green’s investigation provides new solid evidence of the park’s deliberate destruction and violations of current legislation and the natural area’s management plans. During their documentation, investigators met park and forestry district employees who expressed fear of discussing illegal activities in the park. Moreover, a state employee whose identity was protected explained how, 20 years ago, when a strong storm affected a large forest area in the park, “Romsilva employees promised the timber to a Turkish company. Timber auctions were delayed to give the Turks a chance, and a bark beetle invasion affected the fallen timber and other healthy trees. After 2 years, twice as much timber was harvested as had been blown down,” the employee recounted. The area affected by windthrow and the bark beetle (ipidae) outbreak has still not regenerated, with hundreds of hectares remaining without forest.
Peter Abran was a member of Călimani Park’s Scientific Council and is a biodiversity specialist at the Mureș Environmental Protection Agency. The specialist did not wish to discuss how he and other members had been removed from the Scientific Council because they opposed logging in the park, but stated that logging had been unlawful in certain park areas. “The forest management plans have no environmental endorsement or ministerial order to legalise them. In the absence of these two elements, I consider logging in the Răstolița area, for example, illegal.”
Environmental Guard commissioners confirmed the former Scientific Council member’s statements. Following an inspection this year, the commissioners stated that the Răstolița Forestry District’s management plans, where the most aggressive logging takes place, have neither environmental endorsements nor a ministerial order, and that RNP Romsilva must comply with environmental legislation and the requirements of the park’s management plan.
“The Environment Ministry handed national parks over to Romsilva without giving them a management budget. As Romsilva only understands forestry, it finances its park administrations solely from timber cut and sold. Romsilva is literally burying and destroying national parks. These forests are a source of pride for our country, delight our eyes, provide clean air, water and recreation, and are home to thousands of species of flora and fauna. The ministry can no longer tolerate Romsilva’s aggressive management. We demand the immediate termination of the management contracts signed with Romsilva. Romania will take over the Presidency of the European Union in 2019. We will bring shame on Romania for the way it manages its protected areas,” said Gabriel Păun, President of Agent Green.
“The tragedy in Romania’s old-growth and virgin forests is a drama that decision-makers have ignored for too long. In Romania’s case, we are talking about one of the most serious environmental crises experienced by an EU country. Climate change, drought and fires will increasingly affect nature and forests. This is a reality we have faced in recent years, especially this year. We must therefore save the old-growth and virgin forests that are still intact. A few weeks before the Climate Change Conference in Katowice, we appeal to the EU to intervene and stop the massacre taking place in the old-growth forests of Romania’s national parks,” said Gabriel Schwaderer, Executive Director of EuroNatur.
Agent Green and EuroNatur again call on Romania’s Environment Ministry to stop all commercial logging in national parks immediately, remove RNP Romsilva from the management of these protected natural areas, implement viable ecosystem protection systems, fund ANANP to take over national park management, and provide compensation at fair value to private owners whose forests lie within national park boundaries.
The Un dezastru Național / Out of Control campaign will continue with new investigations into the destruction of national parks under RNP Romsilva’s disastrous management.
To view Agent Green and EuroNatur’s previous national park investigations, follow the links below:
Ep 1 – Domogled – Valea Cernei
Ep 2 – Semenic Cheile Carașului
Ep 3 – Cheile Nerei – Beușnița
Agent Green website: https://www.agentgreen.ro/
Contact: office@agentgreen.org
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