Coșava Mică: ten-year protection announced in December 2015

Archived release of 7 December 2015. The ten-year period announced then belonged to the forest management plan described in the release; this article does not certify the forest’s current protection regime.

The announcement of 7 December 2015

Thirty experts from 12 countries ask the Ministry of the Environment to protect the last virgin beech forests.

Agent Green press release — Bucharest, 7 December 2015

Agent Green announced that the Coșava Mică virgin forest in the Semenic Mountains had been saved from logging for the next ten years. During this respite, the organisation intended to pursue inclusion of the forest in the national park and UNESCO Natural World Heritage status. The release’s introduction used the name “Semenic – Izvoarele Nerei National Park”; the request at the end specified “Semenic – Cheile Carașului National Park”.

“This forest looks as Mother Nature left it after the last ice age. Until now it had absolutely no protection status and was in extreme danger of becoming ordinary firewood. Last week we received official information showing that Coșava Mică’s new forest management plan places this forest in category T.1. This means not even a twig can be cut from it over the next 10 years, for as long as the plan is valid.”

— Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green, in the 2015 release

The campaign and the forest’s area

Coșava Mică forest belonged to the state and was managed by the National Forest Administration – Romsilva, through the Reșița Forestry Directorate, Nera Forest District.

Agent Green’s campaign had begun in February 2015, after the organisation learned that Romsilva had refused to include the forest on the list of virgin beech forests nominated for UNESCO Natural World Heritage. Agent Green had submitted the forest’s technical fiche [1] to the Ministry of the Environment and launched the protection petition [2]. The fiche had been prepared with support from the team of the National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry (formerly ICAS), which had prepared the dossier of sites proposed for nomination in the project “Beech forests – Europe’s shared natural heritage”.

“At the start of the campaign, Coșava Mică measured 739 hectares. Meanwhile 5.5 hectares have been lost because logging took place on the forest’s northern edge and the decision was delayed, but 733.5 hectares are now safe.”

— Gabriel Păun, in the same release

The Vilm resolution and Agent Green’s requests

On 15–19 November 2015, Agent Green had participated in the Beech Forest Network of Europe meeting in Vilm, Germany, alongside 30 experts and representatives from 12 countries. The ten-point resolution called, among other things, for a moratorium on logging Europe’s old beech forests, especially in protected areas and state-owned forests [3]. The release attributed the initiative to agree the resolution to Agent Green.

The release recalled the virgin forest map published in 2005 based on the Veen Ecology study [4]: 218,000 hectares identified in Romania, approximately 20% considered well protected by law and 80% at risk. The account considered logging to have become more aggressive after logging and timber processing companies learned of the map. These figures and assessments are those cited in the 2015 release.

“The Ministry of the Environment could have used the 2005 study to protect virgin forests. It did not, and since then many virgin forests have been lost forever. Nobody knows how many remain, but we are putting pressure on the ministry to protect them.”

— Gabriel Păun, in the 2015 release

Agent Green asked the Romanian Government to:

• Include Coșava Mică forest in the strict protection zone of Semenic – Cheile Carașului National Park.
• Legally protect all virgin forests by the end of 2016 at the latest, in accordance with the provisions of the new Forestry Code cited at that time.
• Immediately adopt a moratorium prohibiting logging in virgin forests identified in the Veen Ecology study until compliance with the Forestry Code’s provisions concerning these forests.

Historical notes and sources

[1] The release described the Coșava Mică forest fiche as available on request; the document is not attached to this page.

[2] Agent Green’s appeal for the Coșava Mică virgin forest, 17 February 2015.

[3] Beech Forest Network of Europe resolution, Vilm, 19 November 2015 — source page and PDF in English.

[4] Veen, P.; Biriș, I.-A. (eds), 2004: “Inventory and strategy for sustainable management and protection of virgin forests in Romania”, PINMATRA project, co-funded by the Dutch Royal Society for Nature Conservation KNNV. The release’s bibliographic reference is dated 2004, while the account mentions publication of the map in 2005.