Romania is unable to stop the logging mafia – the
European Commission steps in
2 years
ago Hanna Ollos
This
February, the European Commission announced that it is taking legal action to
stop the vast illegal logging that has resulted in the degragation of tens of
thousands of hectars of protected Romanian old-growth and primeval forests.
Moreover, the infringement proceeedings point out Romania’s failiure to comply
with the EU Timber Regulation by enabling illegally logged timber to enter the
EU market. The Commission issued a letter of formal notice to warn the Romanian
authorities allowing them 1 month to send a reply addressing their
shortcomings. The Commission will afterwards elaborate on whether to take the
case further, to the EU Court of Justice, as it previously happened for the
case of the illegal logging practices in the Polish Bialowieza Forest.
The way illegal timber get to the market
One of the
methods illegal cut timber finds it way into the system is through the legal
timber collection points. Normally the forest industry is able to track direct
shipped timber from the logging place to the sawmill. This is not possible in
the many collection points where the legally cut timber is mixed with the
illegally cut timber, obscuring the source and therefore whitewashing illegal
logging.
Illegally
logged wood delivered late at night
It is
interesting to mention how illegally cut firewood is brought to towns and
villages often in the evenings or late night. The official reasoning of the
suppliers for late night delivery is not to obstruct the traffic on the
streets. The illegality also seems to be proven by the fact that there is never
any proof of origin and / or invoice or any other official document provided to
the buyers.
What’s
more, citizens are depending on the supplies of the logging mafia. This is
clearly demostrated by two closely intertwined phenomena visible in Romania. In
the country with the highest coverage of potential old-growth and primary
forests (525 000 hectares) of all EU States next to Scandinavia, illegal
logging has been flourishing for years. Meanwhile, purchasing firewood has been
a serious issue for the public.
In front the very eyes of Romanian authorities
Forest
destruction is progressing rather quickly as there is seemingly still “plenty
to steal” from the forests. This is proven also by the PRIMOFARO inventory
(Primary and Old Growth Forest Areas of Romania), an analysis by EuroNatur and
Agent Green. However, in parallel, firewood legally avaliable on the market is a
rare case, which created a shortage, at least towards the population. A state
distribution network exists, working in together with official forestry
institutions, which would logically be the place to get supplies for the
locals. However, when locals visit, representatives of the given distribution
site usually inform them that they have run out of wood, or worse, that there
wasn’t even any to start with.
Therefore,
locals are oftentimes facing with the fact that there is no possibility to
purchase wood with verified origin. In front of the eyes of the Romanian
government, citizens are thus forced to resort to all sorts of other solutions.
But who are the big fish?
Apart from
the small-scale trade with locals, it is believed that even big industrial
companies are involved in this circle. To secure high volume of production,
they accept take wood to their timber collection points or sawmills that is
suspected to be illegally logged. The number of sources these companies work
with makes it very hard to track the origin of the timber, often arriving to
the collection points unmarked. This constitutes the really big business deal
for the logging mafia. It provides a reason to go to such extents to even harm
people’s lifes. In the last 5 years, there have been officially 650 violent
attacks against Romanian foresters, rangers and other victims of environmental
activism, seven of who were actually murdered.
Romania,
home of vast forest Wilderness, is also one of Europe’s largest exporters of
timber. At the same time, some foreign companies built large wood processors in
the country. The among these are Kronospan and Egger. They sell their products
on an international level, primarily on the German market. Meanwhile, Romania
is even one of the sources of wood for the Swedish furniture store, Ikea. They
have direct ownership over about fifty thousand hectares of forests. In
parallel, they also work with many Romanian companies that make cheap furniture
for the Ikea.
Also
interesting: EU Timber Regulation (EUTR)
Stopping the logging mafia
In the end,
most of the timber ends up in the black market. In total, 38 million cubic
meters of timber is produced annually in Romania. However, only 18 million can
be officially traced, even with the SUMAL app in place. SUMAL is an electronic
timber tracking system set up with big hopes by the former Romanian government
5 years ago. While most of the ‘missing’ 20 million cubic meters of timber are
simply used as firewood locally, it is estimated that several million cubic
meters are logged and traded illegally on an industrial scale.
There is a
common opinion circulating also through leading polititians, which is that the
logging mafia cannot be stopped. On the other hand, nowadays, more and more
protests are taking place around the country. Citizens demonstate for the state
leadership and authorities to wash their hands, alienate themselves from the
collaborators and finally take action to protect the remaining forested land of
the country.
The
Environmental groups Agent Green, EuroNatur and ClientEarth have taken serious
action last year. They filed complaint to the European Commission against the
forest destruction in Romania. Welcoming the steps taken by the Commission,
these three groups called the Romanian Government to:
1.
Immediately start complying with Nature Directives
2. Strictly
preserve all remaining primary and old-growth forests that overlaps with the
Natura 2000 network
3. Protect
primary and old-growth forests located outside Natura 2000 sites
4. Publish
logging plans and forest age data of all forest management plans of Natura 2000
sites
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário