“Europe’s Amazon”: The new PRIMOFARO inventory reveals Romania’s immense remaining natural wealth

Bucharest/Radolfzell: Europe is in shock over the destruction of the Amazon’s forests, yet Central Europe’s most extensive and valuable natural forests are disappearing rapidly because of massive logging. To identify the locations of Romania’s most valuable forests, the EuroNatur Foundation commissioned a detailed inventory. The result is called PRIMOFARO, from PRIMary and Old growth Forest Areas of ROmania / Romania’s Primary and Old-Growth Forests.

The PRIMOFARO inventory is available here:
Download the PRIMOFARO inventory (PDF in English)

The findings are encouraging, but equally worrying: Romania still has at least 526 000 hectares of potentially natural and primary forests, more than any other EU member state (except Scandinavia). Yet the same analysis shows that forest destruction is advancing at a particularly rapid pace.

The PRIMOFARO inventory is based on scientific identification criteria and was designed through visual analysis of satellite and regional images. The PRIMOFARO digital maps were validated by field visits and, for the first time, by detailed comparison of current and historical satellite images from the declassified US Army CORONA programme (1960).

On paper, two thirds — more than 300 000 hectares — of Romania’s natural forests are included in the European Natura 2000 network, including natural and national parks. But most of these forests enjoy no protection of any kind. Only 6% have been included in the National Catalogue of Virgin Forests so far. This includes only forests strictly declared “virgin forests”, while other almost equally valuable forests are completely excluded. As a result, degradation is ubiquitous in Natura 2000 sites and national parks. PRIMOFARO shows that almost 50% of the virgin forests identified by the “Pin Matra” project in 2005 have already been destroyed or degraded.

“We deliberately looked beyond the strict criteria for virgin forests because the aim was to identify forests of high biological and climatic importance. Around 8% of Romania’s forests are still in as natural a state as possible. These can be called Europe’s equivalent of the Amazon forest. The few remaining virgin forests exclude particularly important primary forests. Primary and old-growth forests have become extremely rare in Europe; all must be given special protection status,” emphasises Matthias Schickhofer, co-author of PRIMOFARO.

“Europe must act together to conserve Romania’s impressive natural heritage. The solution is financial support to compensate private forest owners. Last but not least, Romania must fully comply with international law and Natura2000 legislation: natural Natura2000 forests on state-owned land must be protected through immediate government action,” says Gabriel Schwaderer, Executive Director of the EuroNatur Foundation.

“The Romanian Government has failed to protect primary and old-growth forests. While keeping environmentalists occupied with bureaucratic burdens in conjunction with the Catalogue of Virgin Forests, tens of thousands of hectares of natural forest in Natura 2000 sites and national parks have been destroyed. European legislation obliges us to protect all forests in a good state of conservation, not just a few museums of virgin forests,” concluded Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.

Agent Green and EuroNatur call on the European Union to take urgent action to save “Europe’s Amazon” and ensure that Natura2000 legislation is respected in Romania.

Background

Detailed findings of the PRIMOFARO inventory:

• The analyses show the EU’s largest expanses of primary and old-growth forests (526 000 ha), except Scandinavia
• Only 116 589 hectares (55%) of the 2005 Pin Matra inventory appear to remain intact today
• 332 844 hectares (63%) are in Natura 2000 sites, which overlap with national parks. Even in these theoretically protected areas, the forests are not safe.

Methodology

PRIMOFARO seeks to identify Romania’s primary and old-growth forests — virgin forests, but also forests that may have been influenced by humans in the very distant past. Both types host the richest biodiversity and capture the largest quantities of carbon.

The PRIMOFARO digital map is based on detailed analysis of satellite images and applies scientific criteria to distinguish natural forest from production forest. The analysis was calibrated using images of model areas through numerous field visits over more than 2 years, and by correlating data from partner forest research projects — the REMOTE project led by the University of Prague and a forest-mapping project led by Forsthochschule Rottenburg, funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt.
The findings were validated during field visits and through a meticulous check of the digital maps against historical CORONA images — a series of spy images declassified by the US Army in 1960. This methodology was used for the first time in Romania. The detailed analysis of overlaps was carried out visually. Only 2% of the initial dataset showed signs of deforestation in 1960, and these polygons were excluded from the PRIMOFARO digital map.

The EU nature directives do not restrict the conservation obligation to virgin forests. The Habitats and Birds Directives aim to prevent the degradation and destruction of habitats and species listed as having a good conservation status. Romania is completely failing to implement these European laws.
On 10 September, Agent Green, EuroNatur and ClientEarth submitted a complaint to the European Commission about the Romanian state’s systematic violations of European forest legislation.