Category: Green Planet

In Romania, news about bears roaming inhabited areas are a daily occurrence. They cause damage, and once in a while attack people, sometimes resulting in death. Romania has the largest population of bears in Europe, around 8,000 strong, according to data from the first study of its kind in the last 8 years. The authorities try to solve problems by moving the intrusive beast, or, as a last resort, by hunting it. Recently, the issue has been brought up by the Minister of the Environment Barna Tanczos, at a press conference to launch the National Action Plan for Conserving the Brown Bear Population. According to him, the presence of man in the habitat of bears, and the constant increase in their numbers, putting more and more pressure on sheepfolds and crops, are the main causes for which the number of incidents went up in 2021 from other years. According to ministry data, in 2021 we had 41 incidents and 4 fatalities, compared to 2020, with 6 incidents and a single death. The minister emphasized that, as a result of legislative measures applied in Sinaia, Baile Tusnad, and other mountain resorts, they were able to relocate, without express authorization from Bucharest, without complicated procedures, the bears or families of bears that frequented those resorts. The minister pointed out that simple intervention cannot solve the issue, what is needed is prevention. Precisely to this end, WWF Romania is running an original project in the center of the country, in Baile Tusnad, which can lead to a proper and peaceful existence alongside for bears and people.

We were told about it by Cristian-Remus Papp, wild species department coordinator:

“This concept is based on the collaboration of all interested parties: we have support from the local city hall, support from local organizations, including hunting managers, but also from the tourist sector. All these contribute in their own way, no matter how small, to local bear management. It is why we formed a partnership through which we are trying to develop a Bear Smart community. This model was created in America, in areas with similar problems, and these communities simply come up with examples of best practices, with some activities to prove that man and bear can coexist peacefully. Of course, by applying certain methods, this community tries to solve the issue by keeping bears at a distance. The community does not have a negative attitude towards the animals, on the contrary, by keeping them away they make sure the area is safe, including for the tourists.

Baile Tusnad mayor Butyka Zsolt, said that bear conservation and people safety is what everyone wishes for, and for that they need sustainable solutions, resulting from the involvement and the inclusive participation of all interested parties. He said that brown bears had always been present around the town, and are even emblematic. The solution they want to implement is meant to provide safety for locals and tourists alike, along with the protection of the brown bear. The project running here aims to be a complete solution, as we were told by Cristian Papp:

“We also have additional safety gear, so that the exposed properties are secure. Here we are talking about electric fences, which are 100% harmless. Of course, they provide a zap, but this does no long term harm to the animal, it is by no means a way to kill the animals. At the same time, we are thinking of a system to warn bears when cars are approaching, because we had, at both points of entry in Baile Tusnad, collisions that killed bears. We are talking of an ecological corridor, whose purpose is to make it easier for bears to traverse the river Olt. Of course, some solutions can be implemented right away, others over some time, depending on the available budget. What we have managed so far is to purchase some equipment for the team that is already working at the local level. We also want to have a study to document the interaction between bears and people, to see why bears stay in certain areas, what attracts them there, we want to see if it is about poor food waste management, or about people feeding bears. For this we will also be using some GPS collars, which allows us satellite monitoring. We want to get two collars with video cameras, allowing us to document interactions between bears, or bears and other species, but mostly between bears and people.

Jackals are an invasive species in Romania, and they have been multiplying of late. In various areas of Romania, locals are complaining that they are attacking and eating their yard animals, and experts say that they blame jackals for a drop in the populations of rabbits, other field rodents, and even deer. In Arad, in the west of the country, for instance, people who live near forested areas by the river Mures are afraid, after animals they are raising started disappearing. According to a television station, no one dares step outside after darkness, and they say that they are mainly afraid for little children. In Dolj County, in the south, two sheep farms were recently attacked by packs of jackals, and over a hundred sheep were killed. Local authorities say that jackals started raiding villages because they wiped out wild fauna, and are attracted by food waste that is thrown away carelessly. The prefects office in Dolj County applied for a permit from the Ministry of the Environment to raise the hunting quota, and to allow hunting jackals at night. In the southeast of Romania, the Danube Delta Biosphere Reservation Administration signed a financing contract to extract 400 local jackals in a controlled manner. The contract was taken up by the County Association of Sports Hunters and Anglers, after the inhabitants of the Delta complained that jackals are killing their yard animals and destroying their vegetable gardens. They called on the authorities to cull their numbers, and the action is unfolding. Problems with jackals have also been noticed in the Macin Mountains, very close to the Danube Delta.

The Macin Mountains National Park, however, has a much more environment friendly approach — it started a process of bringing into the reservation a pack of wolves. The decision is based on expert studies that point out that this boom in the population of jackals was caused by the gradual extermination of wolves. In addition to that, another factor is the abundance of food in the region, as explained by park director Viorel Rosca:

“They found open ground, with plenty of food, great shelter, food, and reproduction conditions, so over the last few years they multiplied exponentially, favored by this good environment, as I said. The damage is visible in the drop in the natural fauna, and one example is the population of small mammals in Dobrogea, in the steppe region. I would mention here groundhogs, or a very rare species of ground burrowing birds, considered endangered in Europe. Over these last few years, people have grown alarmed only when they were affected by loss of yard animals in local communities. It is a sad fact, this is being discussed all the time, but many who venture opinions do not know the situation in the field. The situation is alarming, and solutions have to be found.”

We asked how the wolves would regulate the jackal population in the area. Viorel Rosca told us about it:

“They dont attack them directly, physically, but the mere presence of a pack of wolves, we are talking about five or six individuals, inhibits jackals, especially during their mating season. The wolf and the jackal have the same mating period, February to March, the same gestation period, and the simple presence of the wolves inhibits hormonally the jackal females during heat. They wont be able to have eight pups at the same time any more, even where food is abundant, such as in protected areas, they would have just two pups, or none. This would change the food chain to an extent, and allow a balance to be reached. No one wants any species to be wiped out, each species has its role in this circuit, and in this natural balance between species, but it does matter how many individuals of a given species exist. This is a way of keeping down to a manageable level this population of jackals.”

In the opinion of park management, wolves are the only solution for keeping under control the number of jackals that affect the communities in the Macin Mountains area. Director Viorel Rosca told us that in many areas of Europe, even though half a dozen jackals were shot, a dozen more appeared, because of the abundance of food and the lack of competition, which proves that hunting is not the solution. Jackals are a cross between wolves and foxes, of small or medium size, with a body length of a meter at most, and a weight of up to 10 kg. According to the Untamed Romania website, they feed on rabbits, fawns, rodents, birds and their eggs, frogs, fish, lizards, snakes, or even insects. It is often preying on sheep in Romania and neighboring Bulgaria.

This month, the government in Bucharest passed the 2030 National Forest Strategy, a document meant to enshrine into forestry the EU forestry strategy. The adoption of this document, beyond its intrinsic importance, is a landmark in the implementation of the C2 component for forests and preserving biodiversity as part of the National Program for Recovery and Resilience. In order to issue the strategy, managed by the Ministry of Waters, Forests, and the Environment, the program employed professors of forestry with the Transilvania University of Brasov and the University of Suceava, as well as independent forestry experts. The project is a strategic document with several general aims: ensuring a balanced integration of social, ecological, and economic functions into forest management, obtaining a social agreement for harmonizing of rights, interests, and obligations of interested parties and those affected by forest management, allowing the adaptation of tools for regulation and control, financial support, and of those affected by forest management. Eng. Mihai Enescu, PhD, with the Faculty of Agriculture in Bucharest, explained:

“There are several direct directions of action, and I would enumerate some of them. They are all equally important. I would start with increasing the social and cultural role of forests. I would continue with managing forests of such a manner as to integrate and conserve biodiversity, because there have been innumerable disputes, or clashing opinions, which we would like to harmonize. Another concrete axis of action aims at increasing forest surfaces. Here I would like to divert for a bit — if we want more forests, then we have to identify potential farmland that we want to reforest. Also, another important direction for action is aimed at reforming the decision-making role of the forest private owner. I would like to make another parenthesis — it is well known that right now about two thirds of forests are under public property, the state plus Territorial Administration Units, while a third is under private ownership. Romania right now has about seven hundred thousand forest owners or so. These would be overall the main directions for action. There are more, but they are all fundamentally very well by this strategy.”

Government officials wanted to also answer the issue of illegal forest cutting, by, for instance, implementing in full the SUMAI system of wood monitoring, monitoring by tele-detection, and consolidating the punitive system. The situation is quite worrying when it comes to Romanian forests, which, according to the Global Forest Watch, lost 5% of its forests between 2001 and 2021, meaning about 400,000 ha. We asked Mihai Enescu about who has the major role in applying the 2030 National Forest Strategy, and how it coordinates with the corresponding European document:

“The correct answer, if you ask me, would be the entire sector. Each interested factor in forests and wood has, and will have, a fundamental role, because this is how the strategy was designed. The strategy was based on an ample process of consultation. Theoretically, all the hot spots, lets say, have been identified to be solved by 2030, with a clear calendar. You mentioned monitoring. Of course, the authorities take point on that, but in terms of implementation there are other structures too, first and foremost the forest wards locally, but there are other entities in the wood industry, depending. Basically, the process of consultation included several strategic acts, lets call them, at the European level: the EU strategy for forests, the strategy for biodiversity, and others. By taking on all the ambitious targets set by the EU, we tried to particularize them for our country. In other words, both for me and for other parties, the 2030 National Forest Strategy is basically a plan for implementation of the European strategy for forests. Ill say it once more, it is about harmonizing targets.”

The minister in charge of waters, forests, and the environment, Barna Tanczos, said that the document plans for the future of the countrys forests on medium term, and represents a very important, even historic, step. He emphasized tht Romania has some of the healthiest and most valuable forests in Europe, but that, in order to conserve and protect them we need a green line that will have to be followed for years and years. The Romanian dignitary said that this line, along with the best proposals for saving, developing, and sustainably exploiting forests in our country are already contained in the 2030 National Forest Strategy.

In 2016, the town of Mahmudia, in the Carasuhat area, finalized its first ecological restoration project in the Danube Delta. Its artisans were representatives of the local community, such as the Mahmudia Local Council, the Danube Delta Biosphere Reservation Administration, and the WWF, the Romania branch. The financing was sourced from European funds. In essence, almost 1,000 ha of farmland have been reintegrated in the natural environment in the area.

The building of the Carasuhat farming area was done between 1985 and 1989, but the works stopped in 1990. As such, the project was not functional to the extent of 70% to the level it was designed to, but was also not restored to nature either. The drainage work done here led to the disappearance of natural ecosystems, and turned them into anthropic areas. This area is being used right now, being under a sharecropping arrangement. However, 924 ha owned by the Mahmudia local council was being used as a communal pasture. It had no conservation interest, and so it was very well suited to ecological reconstruction. WWF Romania committed to monitor the area, in order to see the effects of returning it to nature. The last inspection was done this year, and we were told about the results by Camelia Ionescu, the manager of the sweet waters department:

“We wanted to see what happens after such a project, turning a piece of farmland in the Delta into a wetland, into a nature area. To see how nature reverts, and how it benefits the people of the area. The results are encouraging. From the point of view of biodiversity, what happened there was amazing, in the Carasuhat area, the reconstructed area of about 1,000 ha. Basically, once the terrain was flooded with water, in a few months we could see a very large amount of birds. In April we connected the area with the Sf. Gheorghe canal of the Danube, and in June, when we did the first monitoring action, the area was full of birds. After 6 years, you realize that things went even better. Upon our last tally, we counted 7,000 birds of various species, about 55 species upon the last visit, this summer. Beyond the birds, we wanted to know about the perception on this project that the inhabitants of Mahmudia have. Even though the main aim of the project was improving the situation for wild species, for protected habitats, we ended up running a study of the impression that the locals have. We found out that about 60% of them believe that economic activity, especially tourism, has grown in the area, and this was due to the reconstruction project. Basically, more tourists come here, and they have the possibilities of showing them the Delta much closer to their home, where the tourists lodge. This is very encouraging, and it restores in us the hope for future development, and for running similar future projects in the Delta.”

This approach is an alternative to local development. On the one hand, it is meant to restore wetlands, improve the quality of water, the storage or mitigation of flash floods. On the other, it is meant to provide opportunities for the local communities towards opening up means to develop eco-tourism, traditional fishing, and traditional farming. Camelia Ionescu told us about similar projects:

“Before the change in regime in 1989, about 30% of the Delta had been turned into farmland, and there are very large agricultural areas which show up as an open sore on the map of the Delta. These areas can clearly be restored, or partially restored, to nature. They can also be designed so that they produce fish. This is somewhat lacking, and inhabitants of the Delta, as well as tourists, especially sports fishers, are complaining that fishing is no longer what it used to be. Basically, these farming areas, where they do more traditional farming, can be flooded and made to produce fish. Unfortunately, because of some decisions made at a high level about the Delta, even recently, even former fish farms, about 5,500 ha, were turned into agricultural land. So practically we have land producing crops, instead of fish, which is not normal for the Delta.”

This reconstruction work was designed to help restore natural processes, and conditions for development of certain habitats that encourage sustainable growth of fishes, growth of reed and forests, and improving floodable pastures. Even though the main aim of the project is improving biodiversity, in the end it turns out that the diversity of life is the reason for which the locals and the tourists can enjoy a large variety of fish. According to Cristian Tetelea, an ecology reconstruction expert with WWF Romania, this is one of the many reasons for continuing to reconstruct wetlands both in the Danube Delta, as well as upriver, in the Lower Danube flood lands.

The Carpathian Mountains are some of the most important centers for biodiversity in Europe, due to their high degree of forestation, and major old-growth forest areas. Unfortunately, as forestry was practiced in Romania in the past, biodiversity was not a central aim of forest management. Many times, old-growth trees or damaged mature trees have been harvested selectively, resulting in forest plots with structure and composition that lacked variety. In other areas, such practices led to the preservation of a very small number of old trees and small quantities of deadwood, putting in danger the species of saproxylic insects that are protected under the Habitat Directive. That is according to the website of the LIFE ROsalia association.

In the past, such species were considered biological pests, and reducing deadwood was done by cleaning it up, by harvesting dried up trees or dying trees, which are colonies of saproxylic insects. In the past, in some situations, there were even insecticide spraying campaigns, which led to reducing the biodiversity of useful insects. Today, things are changing. Here is what we were told about the importance of such critters by Silviu Chiriac, manager of the project called Conserving Saproxylic Insects in the Carpathians:

“These five species of insects that we want to deal with, mostly beetles, are dependent on wood. What these insects do, and the reason they are important for nature, is they decompose wood. Better said, they are in direct relationship with dying trees, they decompose very fast the wood, and that wood enters much faster the natural circuit of the forest. Without these saproxylic insects (because they are not the only ones, we also have fungi that do the same thing), the wood would not decompose, and they would remain dead in the forest for a long time. These decomposing insects are a kind of cleaners, organisms that play a very important role in nature, integrating matter into the natural cycle.

There is a fantastical world that runs its business under the canopy of old-growth forests. Each being has its well established role, and insects are part of this incredible biodiversity. Without it, ecosystems would suffer dramatic changes. Silviu Chiriac told us that conservation measures are paramount:

“Right from the beginning, when we applied for this EC financing, for the Life-Nature program, we had noticed that these forests, in spite of being rather healthy, are lacking very old and large trees, which have many holes, or other features of rotted trees. Since these insects depend on deadwood and these tree holes, we tried to play around with time a bit. We believe that these trees, which often are cut down, could be turned into micro-habitats, with micro-cavities in which these beetles can lay their eggs quickly, turning these into a space insects need in only a few years. For instance, one of these species of beetles depends on large cavities in trees that are rich in what we call red wood dust. Since our forests lack these trees with holes, we though we would make them ourselves, make surrogate tree holes. So we built wood boxes out of soft wood and oak, which we filled with dead leaves, sawdust, and protein powders. Within a few years, those surrogate tree holes stuck to the trees will be undoubtedly colonized by these insects.

This project, implemented in the Vrancea Mountains, is not only significant locally, but scientifically:

“We believe it is very important to understand the habits of these insects, because data is sorely lacking in the scientific literature. It is very important, for example, to understand over what distances these insects travel between colonized trees. And so, for the first time for this neck of the woods in Europe, we acquired radio emitters that weigh only .15 grams. We mounted these emitters on many specimens, and followed them around over the summer, cataloging their habits, and seeing what micro-habitats they depend on. We will aggregate data for a period of 4 years, and in 2025 we will put together a national action plan to conserve these species all over Romania. Basically, the experience we gather here, working with these 5 species in the Carpathian elbow, will be applied by extrapolation to other species. It will be implemented in other Natura 2000 sites and other protected areas where these insects live. They need these and other activities in order to be preserved for the future.

This project is being run in collaboration with the University of Bucharest, namely its Center for Environmental Research and Impact Studies, the Romsilva forest management national administration, the Putna-Vrancea Nature Park Administration, and the Association for the Conservation of Biological Diversity.

In the past, people and beasts have shared the same space, in a natural balance. In order to defend themselves, and their farm animals, people, especially mountain dwellers, have taken protective measures, such as wooden palisades. Another defense was breeding sheep dogs, able to keep at bay wolves, and even bears. Out of necessity, Romanians have created four breeds of such dogs. Their main purpose was to keep in check the natural fauna. They kept dangerous wild animals away from households and sheepfolds, so that people didnt have to eradicate them. It was an attempt for man to live alongside wild fauna, by ancient methods. Nowadays it is still used in this complex economic and social context, in order to preserve the natural riches of the Carpathian Mountains. The Conservation Carpathia environmental foundation has a program that provides puppies of the Romanian Carpathian Sheep Dog breed to shepherds in the Fagaras Mountains area. The are raised at the Cobor Biodiversity Farm.

This domestic breed has been at the side of Romanian shepherds since times immemorial, says Adrian Aldea, a fauna management biologist:

“In order to get wild fauna to be accepted in local communities, we have to ensure that conflicts are kept at a reasonable level, those between man and wild animals. Of course, carnivores can kill farm animals, boars can root through pastures, and we, being in charge of managing fauna in hunting grounds, have to ensure that we avoid these problems as much as we can. Our priority is to avoid conflicts to begin with, and this is the reason for which we initiated this program of breeding and donating guard dogs of the Carpathian Shepherd breed, which is very effective in guarding farm animals. You may ask why we picked this breed. First of all it is because it is a breed specific to the mountains of Romania, which lately tends to be replaced with all sorts of hybrids, or other breeds that are less effective in the fight against wild animals, but more aggressive towards people. This is a balanced breed, that knows its mountain business.”

The farmers that get Carpathian sheepdogs through the Carpathia program become the owners after a year, if they comply with obligatory care conditions: decent treatment, proper food, and all the necessary veterinary care. Since 2019, the organization has donated 46 puppies. In Romania there are four domestic breeds, all of them guard dogs for sheep or cattle: the Mioritic Romanian Sheepdog, the Carpathian Romanian Sheepdog, the Bukovina Romanian Sheepdog, and the Corb Romanian Sheepdog. We talked about these dogs with Petru Muntean, spokesperson for the Romanian Canine Association:

“Romanians cannot live without dogs, neither in the mountains, nor in their rural households, considering the situation we are facing, for a few years now in fact: the bear and wolf population is growing. Shepherds cannot live without a dog, they cant provide security for their flocks. Now, lets talk about the four breeds. In expert language, two of them belong to the first FCI group, which is dedicated to sheepdogs, and the other two breeds, which are bigger and sturdier, the Bukovina and Corb, belong to a section of the second group, dedicated to guard and defense dogs of large size. The difference is in body structure, their head is different. In the Carpathian and Mioritic, the head is wolf-like, they are more streamlined, longer, while the other two breeds have bigger and sturdier heads, recalling closely the Tibetan Mastiff, or the better known Saint Bernard. They are imposing and very strong. What brings them together, these four breeds, is their exceptional ability in guarding flocks of sheep. They have a natural instinct for this, they are very good guardians of people and households. The fauna of this area imposed for these breeds to be created, to be guardians. They are suspicious of strangers, and are very good at guarding their territory, but, contrary to expectation, when they are taken by their masters to a new, unknown area, they are very well behaved, they are balanced, they mind their own business. They are fiercely loyal.”

You can find out more about these wonderful Romanian dogs on the association website, www.ach.ro, in Romanian, English, and French.

Romania will be the first state in Europe to have a small modular nuclear reactor. It would produce electricity safely, with minimal carbon emissions, and an under average cost for the country. The reactor, built by the American company NuScale, will be placed in the defunct thermal plant in Doicesti, in Dambovita County, in the south of the country, and operated by experts trained at the Bucharest Polytechnic. To this end, the US will supply Romania with a special simulator.

The new technology aims at improving action against climate change, and improving energy security and access to energy. Romanian Energy Minister Virgil Popescu explained recently what the American company will be doing, along with the local partner, after agreeing on terms of collaboration:

“The two companies, NuScale and Nuclearelectrica, in the memorandum they signed, have to identify exactly what the Romanian industry is able to do, how we can develop Romanian industry, how we can move domestically the manufacture of components of modular reactors. What is certain is that we want for Nuclearelectrica to be a regional operator of modular reactors, and not only, for this this NuScale technology.”

During a visit to Bucharest, Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk said that, right now, when it comes to energy we are confronting three kinds of crises. First there is the ongoing climate crisis, which has been with us for some time. Add to that the COVID crisis, which impacted hugely not only health, but also energy markets. The third emerged recently for Romania and other states in the region, President Putins aggression against Ukraine. He underlined the fact that, in this context, the USA is eager to work with Romania to face down all these crises. In turn, Cosmin Ghita, Nuclearelectrica general director, said that placing the nuclear plant in Doicesti is taking advantage of existing infrastructure. At the same time, he spoke about which stage the project is in:

“We have signed the initial contract and initiated the first stage for this project back in November 2021, work is in progress. Based on this work, we can start to complete the first engineering and procurement stage for the long term cycle of manufacture. We got the initial input, we have 35% progress for this first stage. At this time according to our schedule, we will start preparing for second stage, and to start negotiating these contracts, in order to comply with the deadline we have adopted, for late 2030.”

European energy security and expanding the Romanian domestic civilian nuclear program were also discussed by Deputy Secretary Turk and PM Nicolae Ciuca. They agreed that building reactors 3 and 4 at the nuclear plant in Cernavoda, in the southeast, as well as maintenance for reactor 1, are much needed steps for ensuring Romanias energy independence. Also, both sides showed willingness to develop the Romanian- American partnership, both in nuclear energy, as well as oil and gas exploitation. The main benefits of implementing these solutions aim at both decarbonization — a major European objective — as well as the high security level at which investments would run, as shown by a press release from the government in Bucharest. All these are all the more important in the present context of international energy sanctions against Russia because of Ukraine. Energy Minister Virgil Popescu believes that implementing the modular reactor technology from NuScale will be a new step towards Romanias energy independence. He added that, in addition to the proven benefits in terms of energy security and the environment, by generating safe, stable, accessible, and clean energy, with minimal emissions, the project would also bring social and economic benefits directly to the community it serves, also making prosperous the regional industry and economy.

Cosmin Ghita, the general director of domestic operator Nuclearelectrica, says about the Romanian- American project that it will very likely have a capacity of 600 MW. The project consists of a NuScale nuclear reactor with a capacity of 462 MW, while at the same time allowing for solar energy to add to the capacity of the complex. He also explained that some geodesic studies were run in the area, and that the area has good connection to the regional network of thermal energy distribution and the national grid. At the same time, there is a community with expertise in the area, which brings added economic advantages. Of course, there are some critics of the new technology. They claim that, even though the reactors are smaller, they are still nuclear plants, with all their disadvantages, such as higher costs, longer construction deadlines, and the continued worries for safety.

Romania has every resource, from forests, wood, processing capacity, experts, and schools, to be on the front line among countries that are taking major steps in reducing carbon emissions in construction. This comes from the Forestry Association of Romania (ASFOR), which said in a press release how using wood in construction could help reach the ambitious climate objectives that the EU has laid out, such as reaching climate neutrality by 2050, and then reducing emissions below that target. To this end, the construction sector presents a major challenge. According to the action plan for the circular economy laid out in 2020, the construction sector is responsible for over 35% of total waste, and for 5 to 12% of carbon emissions in the EU. Wood production could contribute to turning the sector from a source of emissions to one that absorbs atmospheric carbon. Promoting products that absorb carbon dioxide is fully compatible with the principle of technological neutrality, according to Romanian sources in forestry. ASFOR president Ciprian Musca explains the mechanism:

“The construction sector is one of the sectors that has a fairly high contribution in terms of carbon emissions, through its materials. European states have implemented a series of measures to capture and store carbon. In Romania and the EU we have a resource that can help, and can actively contribute, to reaching these goals. This means forests. Basically, forests absorb carbon, which they then store in the form of wood. The subsequent use of wood as building material assures the very long term storage of carbon. Basically, using wood in construction allows us to store carbon and reach the neutrality goals that we took on as a member of the European community, goals that are supposed to be reached by 2030. There has to be a balance between the economy, society, and the environment. That means the wood harvests that we have in Romania, because Romania is one of the few European states that harvests wood in 10 year cycles. We harvest only the annual forest growth, meaning we dont take out more than the forest can produce.”

In support of this, Romanian foresters recall that last month, the committee in charge of the environment, public health, and food safety with the European Parliament, ENVI, launched a draft report called A New European Strategy for 2030 — Sustainable Management of Forests in Europe. The document refers to adopting a holistic approach, which takes into account the multifunctionality of forests, including storing carbon in the forest biomass and wood products. It also mentions creating a regulatory framework which recognizes the smaller carbon footprint of forestry products as compared to alternative materials. In that context, Romanian foresters point to their own document, called Green Romania in 10 steps, which has a chapter referring to wooden construction. This calls on public authorities to build passive wooden constructions, and to use at least 10% wood in all buildings that are publicly funded. At the same time, with the Wooden House program, foresters call on regular people to be financially supported in using this material in buildings, along with businesses building headquarters, commercial, and manufacturing buildings. However, this cannot be achieved without cutting down forests, and this is a very sensitive issue in Romania. Many environmental associations have decried illegal and abusive deforestation, according to Ciprian Musca:

“First, I would point to the term deforestation. That means cutting down forests, removing them, and changing their usage. For instance, we can have deforestation in order to clear land for a motorway. Otherwise, we cannot speak of deforestation. Here, in Romania, we only have deforestation in the case of grand infrastructure projects. As for illegal forest harvest, we, as participants in the forestry sector, are making efforts to remove the people who illegally affect the forests. We have an IT system, SUMAL 2.0, which is unique in Europe, and provides us with the ability to track wood from land to storage. It is a system that everyone has access to. Any citizen in Romania who wants to check a transport of wood may do so, and they also have the photos. If they have suspicions regarding an illegal batch, they may call 112. which means that transparency is total in terms of wood transports.”

Recently, the Romanian government has taken new measures to discourage all attempts at fraud and graft in terms of wood production. It is a tougher sanctions regime, on the principle of proportionality, which has been a requirement of the EU.