14 DAY TRIAL // The environmentally-friendly campaign launched by WWF on October 24 is returning the first results. After raising over 65,000 signatures, the initiative will ensure the preservation of approximately 250,000 hectares of virgin forests in Romania, which represent a unique ecosystem.
At this point in time, the Minister of Environment and Forests, Mr. Laszlo Borbely, is aware of the fact that lack of regulation meant to conserve the beautiful areas means that trees can be cut by companies and individuals, without actually breaking the law.
Borbely hopes that a new legal framework will be implemented to ensure the protection of endangered Romanian forests by the end of this year. Taking into account that forests untouched by man have become a hot topic, the EU has scaled up efforts to provide the financial support required by an effective preservation strategy. As we speak, it has committed to offer 100 million Euro ($13.4 million), a significant amount of money meant to provide compensations to the private owners of such important ecosystems.
The success of the collaboration between WWF and the Ministry of Environment and Forests will guarantee that the Romanian forests will be treated with the respect they deserve.
This first step towards establishing proper regulations is quite significant, with the official from the WWF saying that up to 80% of Romania’s untouched woodland is currently exposed to the aforementioned danger.
Due to the fact that such areas are rather inaccessible, and the wood they offer doesn't actually have an important economical value, virgin forests have managed to survive and continue sheltering approximately 13,000 species.
Despite this, the increasing demand for wood as a source of power, correlated with the bad management of these regions, could count as emerging threats, powerful enough to wipe the 250,000 hectares off the face of the Earth within a few decades.
Nevertheless, officials from the WWF are staying optimistic, hoping that their conservation strategy will ensure the balance of this fragile ecosystem, which has an important educational, scientific, ecological and economical value.
“Virgin forests have become a hot topic in Romania. Today we see the light at the end of the tunnel for the first time. A Memorandum of understanding with the authorities would guarantee that the problem will be solved, " Magor Csibi, Country Manager of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme in Romania, says.
"Today we received a first commitment, and we hope that we will be able to finalize the agreement soon," Magor Csibi concludes.