Victory: Cernișoara’s virgin forests strictly protected after 3 years of court cases, investigations and protests
The virgin forests in the Cernișoara basin (Domogled – Valea Cernei National Park) have now become strictly protected, 3 years after Agent Green’s protest and following a series of investigations and cases in Romania’s highest courts. These forests, including the Radoteasa and Cărbunele valleys (excluding the plots already damaged by the date of the protest), have entered the new edition of the national catalogue of virgin forests, available here: http://www.mmediu.ro/articol/editia-aprilie-2021-a-catalogului-padurilor-virgine-si-cvasivirgine-din-romania/4176
Video of the Cernișoara protest, May 2018
This victory, unique in Romania, results both from Agent Green’s protest in May 2018 and from the cases the organisation won in November 2019 against Romsilva and the Environment Ministry at the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Cassation and Justice. In the remarkable case of Agent Green against the Environment Ministry and Romsilva’s Baia de Aramă Forest District, the organisation had suspended logging on almost 20,000 hectares overlapping Domogled – Valea Cernei National Park and the Natura 2000 site Nordul Gorjului de Vest. The defendants lodged an appeal, which they lost, and subsequently pursued an extraordinary remedy, which they lost through the High Court’s final judgment. The decision is available here:
https://www.scj.ro/1094/Detalii-dosar?customQuery%5B0%5D.Key=id&customQuery%5B0%5D.Value=100000000326950
Meanwhile, Romsilva continued removing centuries-old trees from these areas until Agent Green repeatedly called on the Forest Guard to intervene. Shortly afterwards, logging was also suspended at Padeș, the neighbouring state forest district, on 14,612.36 hectares. The Bucharest Court of Appeal’s decision in Agent Green’s case against Romsilva and the Environment Ministry is available here:
https://portal.just.ro/2/SitePages/Dosar.aspx?id_dosar=200000000369592&id_inst=2
The Cernișoara protest in May 2018 involved 25 activists who unfurled 2 giant banners over the rocks in the Cernișoara area (96 square metres and 64 square metres respectively), bearing the message “STOP logging in national parks” in Romanian and English, addressed to the Environment Ministry, as well as several banners reading “Salvează Cernișoara / Save Cernișoara”. See the May 2018 press release here:
Cernișoara protest
Cernișoara
Cernișoara protest
The catalogue of virgin and quasi-virgin forests currently covers a total of 57,529 ha. Almost 500,000 ha of primary and old-growth forests remain without any protection. See the inventory of unprotected potentially primary and old-growth forests (PRIMOFARO).
Agent Green asks the Environment Ministry to strictly protect all 13 national parks in Romania, as well as all primary and old-growth forests that still have no form of strict protection and are vulnerable to logging.
