“Out of Control: The Unfolding Tragedy of Romania’s National Parks” is a background dossier published in December 2017 by EuroNatur, Save Paradise Forests and Agent Green, documenting the scale of destruction in Romania’s national parks.
Main findings
Romania is home to two-thirds of Europe’s remaining primary forests, located in the Carpathians and covering an estimated area of over 200,000 hectares. These forests provide habitat for Europe’s largest populations of bears, wolves and lynx. In 2016, Romania made the largest individual contribution to the UNESCO World Heritage of ancient beech forests.
Nevertheless, the report demonstrates that the national parks do not meet IUCN criteria (Category II), which require at least 75% of their area to be non-intervention zones. Industrial logging continues even within strictly protected areas, despite legislation that should protect them.
Approximately 45% of the virgin forests identified in a 2005 study can no longer be confirmed as intact at the time of the dossier’s publication.
About the partners
The dossier was produced as part of the “Save Paradise Forests” campaign, a joint initiative of EuroNatur and Agent Green dedicated to saving Europe’s last primary forests.
Download the full dossier (PDF, in English)
