Photos: Romania’s forests under mounting threat -- along with rangers
Updated On Nov 19, 2019 05:00 PM IST
The Romania's woodlands, home to some of the last virgin forests in Europe and diverse wildlife species, are under threat. Greenpeace estimates that up to 20 million cubic metres of wood (700 million cubic feet) are illegally harvested each year. In a recent escalation of violence, two rangers were also killed within a month of each other in different parts of the country while trying to stop alleged timber thieves.
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Updated on Nov 19, 2019 05:00 PM IST
A view of Fagaras Mountains in Valea Rea, near Nucsoara, central Romania. Like thick wrinkles, a multitude of dirt roads cut through barren slopes in Romania’s mountainous Valea Rea region, showing the impact of aggressive illegal logging -- which is not just threatening its rare forests but human life too. In a recent escalation of violence, two rangers were killed within a month of each other in different parts of the country while trying to stop alleged timber thieves. (Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
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Updated on Nov 19, 2019 05:00 PM IST
Wooden crosses in tribute of the "forest rangers heroes" honouring the killed forest guards in front of the Romanian Parliament during a protest in Bucharest. The latest tragedies have brought thousands of Romanians, including hundreds of rangers, into the streets to demand the government does more to protect the forests and their guardians. (Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
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Updated on Nov 19, 2019 05:00 PM IST
Environmental groups say Romania’s woodlands, home to some of the last virgin forests in Europe and diverse wildlife species, are under threat. Greenpeace estimates that up to 20 million cubic metres of wood (700 million cubic feet) are illegally harvested each year. The timber sector is estimated to be worth more than six billion euros ($6.6 billion) in the EU member country, where forests cover some seven million hectares (17.3 million acres), or almost a third of the country. (Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
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People demonstrate holding a Romanian flag during a protest against illegal logging in the forests. Logging has disfigured many mountains and foothills, and rangers face threats and violence. In October, a 30-year-old ranger in Maramures county in northern Romania was found dead with a bullet wound in his back, shortly after he made a phone call to say he caught three people illegally cutting trees. (Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
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Romsilva, the state company that manages the public forests, says 185 rangers have been hurt since 2014. “It’s a very dangerous job, especially given the fact that I have to monitor a thousand hectares alone,” says Valentin Dirig, 43, who has been guarding the forests in Neamt in the northwest for 15 years. Marinel Ivanescu, a ranger denounces “overlapping interests” between local authorities and loggers in a country where 3.2 million households are heated with wood. (Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
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An activist dressed as bear hugs a child as another one (L) holds a placard reading "You left me without a home and shoot me too?" during a protest against illegal logging. Greenpeace also accuses the environment ministry of delaying the implementation of a national system to track wood transport, which would use satellite images and CCTV to monitor the forests and the trucks leaving it. (Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
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Authorities insist that after legislation was tightened in 2015, limiting the amount of wood that companies can log and allowing the gendarmerie to check trucks carrying timber, the phenomenon is now under control. Holzindustrie Schweighofer, the Austrian company that works with smaller Romanian timber suppliers, was investigated after a 2018 NGO report accused it of disregarding the wood’s origins, leading to police raids on its sites. (Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
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Demonstrators hold placards reading "All for the forests" during a protest. Private land ownership accounts for about half of all forests. “The problem is with the private landowners who bought or recovered forests after the fall of the communist regime and think they can do whatever they want,” ranger Dirig says. (Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP)
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Updated on Nov 19, 2019 05:00 PM IST