An ecological disaster in the European Amazon. Are we still watching?

The state-owned forests of Romania amount to 3.13 million hectares, a figure that represents 48% of the country’s forested areas. In these territories, illegal felling of plants is fueling the black wood market and causing enormous environmental damage.

According to the collected data, illegal logging in Romania amounts to about 20 million cubic meters of timber every year out of a total of 18 million legally authorized by the state. Considering an average price of wood of around 50 euros / mc, it can be seen that the illegal business produces around 1 billion euros per year.

In fact, the phenomenon has been going on for years, probably covered by state officials who pretend not to see the problem, but recently it has come back strongly to the fore as two park guards were killed, who were honestly working to protect the forest heritage of the state.

There has been talk of mafia forms of management of the softwood business , which has also moved the European Commission, which has imposed on the Romanian state, a verification of the situation through the creation of a control commission on the numbers and on the deforestation procedures .

According to the indications of Recorder.co , the report prepared, after hearing the operators of the field checks, assisted by experts trained in France, Switzerland and Finland, has shown that illegal logging represents about 20 million cubic meters / year .

However, the report seems to have been censored by the authorities that received it, as it would not represent the real situation, based on the autonomous surveys of Romsilva, a company that manages the state forest assets .

According to the data of this company, the volume of illegal logging would be between 40 and 50,000 cubic meters per year and speculates that the commission charged with the control, under pressure from the European Community, could have made calculation errors.

In a public conference in which both the head of Romsilva and the managers of the IFN project , National Forest Inventory who carried out the surveys, participated, it emerged that the numbers contained in the IFN report were supported by independent European consultants, but that the state forest protection agency openly insists on believing it unreliable, leaving the problem in a dangerous limbo.

As usually happens in business managed by the underworld, the phenomenon of intimidation, silence and corruption , greases a well-tested gear at all levels, with the sole purpose of keeping illegal activities sheltered from the clamor of the news, in to continue discreetly and operations.

Bolsonaro has been so criticized for not fighting Amazon deforestation, but little has been said about illegal deforestation in Romania.