Agent Green criticises the government for missing its national parks strict-protection target

Plunder in Rodna Mountains National Park #1

Bucharest, 12 February 2024 – Agent Green points out that the Romanian government has not met its governing commitment to strictly protect the forest in the 13 national parks, whose combined area represents just 1% of the country’s territory.

Starting today, the environmental organisation will publish a series of 4 weekly reports illustrating the devastation in Rodna Mountains National Park, a park where owners receive nearly 2 million euros in compensation annually to let the forest grow.

The first report, published today, exposes clear-cutting in the park within the area of the private Someș-Țibleș forest district, Bistrița-Năsăud County. An entire hillside of old mixed broadleaf and conifer forest has been wiped off the face of the earth. Numerous new forest roads were built close together without approvals. They reach widths of up to 10 metres, like a national road. Even rock slopes were destroyed to build them. Soil erosion is 1-2 metres deep. The cleared areas have not only failed to regenerate, but are now subject to severe erosion.

Mr Mihail Mureșan, head of this forest district, knows of no problem and sees no reason to strictly protect the national park. He says he will send an inspection team and, if necessary, they will carry the soil back in baskets.

“The main purpose of a national park is to protect biodiversity and support ecotourism. I do not understand what is being protected when you raze the forest, or what any tourist could still see. Nor do I understand why the government promised to strictly protect national parks if those managing them treat them worse than ordinary forests should be managed for timber production. The people cutting in Rodna seem to have something against the forest. They have left devastation behind,” said Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.

“I have walked through hundreds of national parks on every continent. I have never seen logging. The standard is the same everywhere in the world, except Romania. From Yellowstone to Great Ottway National Park, you do not see a single stump. Trees are left to grow and generations to succeed one another naturally, without human intervention,” Păun added.

Watch the interview conducted by Gabriel Păun with David Mattson, who holds a doctorate in natural sciences and has devoted his career to protecting wildlife in Yellowstone National Park. Dr Mattsson has worked for the famous park’s administration since 1979 and explains that cutting trees in national parks makes no sense.

Agent Green also raised the alarm 4 years ago in the “A National Massacre” series about logging in Rodna, but this time logging operations have spiralled completely out of control. The organisation also tracked the destination of the harvested wood and discovered that it is intended for large corporations rather than local communities. The next three reports will expose the timber’s route, abusive logging in the areas of other forest districts within the park, and the feeble response of authorities confronted with the illegal activities presented.

You can find more information about the tragic situation of Romania’s national parks here.

Press contact: office@agentgreen.org