The second cycle of the
\nNational Forest Inventory (NFI), started in 2013 came to a close and the
\nresults were made public in the late 2018. The National Forest Inventory is a
\nrolling program designed to provide detailed information on the size,
\ndistribution and composition of Romania’s forests and woodlands. It shows what
\nRomania’s woodlands and tree coverage outside woodlands are like today. A cycle
\nof the NFI spans five years. According to the recently released results, beech
\nis the main tree species which grows in Romania’s forests, accounting for 31%
\nof Romania’s tree coverage. It is followed by resinous trees (spruce, fir and
\npine), which account for 26%, various deciduous, hard wood species (hornbeam,
\nacacia ash and maple) and oak species which account for 1%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Then comes the group of various
\nspecies of soft hardwood, which includes lime trees, poplars, willows etc and accounts
\nfor 7% of the forest. Studies show that most of the forest area, 20% of it, is
\nin the third group of age (over 50) and only 10% of the forests are in the
\nsixth group (100-120) years, which can be mostly found on protected areas. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The overall conclusion drawn after
\nthe National Forest Inventory figures were made public is that forests are in a
\ngood condition, says C\u0103t\u0103lin Tobescu, CEO of Fordaq Romania:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
First and foremost, forests and
\nwoodlands cover a larger area now, more specifically another 7 million hectares
\nare now covered by forests. It is important that we register higher figures
\nthan five years ago, when the last measurements were made. Secondly, apart from
\nthe forests included in the national forest fund, we have tree coverage outside
\nwoodlands, outside the forest fund, such as tree bordered meadows, pastures,
\nforest clearings, tree lines along rivers, parks, all sorts of areas covered by
\ntrees, with a total surface of 500,000 hectares. Subsequently, the tree coverage
\nis exceeding the initial estimates. So, there are 0.35 hectares per capita,
\nabove the European average, although it was initially believed Romania was below
\nthis average. This survey also shows that barren plots of land included in the
\nforest fund, where there is no forest regeneration, cover only 56,000 hectares.
\nThis means that only 1% of forests and woodlands are not covered by trees and
\nwhere we can’t speak of natural forest regeneration. The figure is important because
\nthere has been much talk over the past 20 years about deforestation works and
\nthe disappearance of forests. Previous figures are now contradicted by the new
\nNFI results. And what’s more, the Inventory shows that the volume of wood mass
\nin forests has increased since the last measurements were made, that is during
\na five year time span. This means we cut less than the forest can regenerate
\nitself naturally, and we can speak of sustainable forest exploitation. In a
\nnutshell, we exploit some 60% of forest growth. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nanother development, environmental organizations have voiced concern over the
\nsecond NFI cycle arguing that illegal deforestations have exceeded legal ones,
\nset at 18 million cubic meters a year. By and large over 80 million of cubic
\nmeters of wood have been stolen so far (20.6% a year) and the NFI has failed to
\nsignal this situation. This quantity represents the equivalent of a surface of
\n242,352 hectares of forest, which vanished between 2013 and 2018. Here is Agent
\nGreen investigation director Andrei Ciurcanu with more on this issue.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We have information that they are trying
\nto conceal or avoid publishing certain NFI data. We got information on the wood
\nquantity measured in the first NFI cycle, which was nowhere to be found in the
\nsecond cycle; a staggering 38.6 million cubic meters per year. We have published
\nan open letter, handed it over to the country’s president and to the Ministry
\nof Waters and Forests asking a legitimate question: if the annual quantity of
\nwood that vanished stands at 38.6 million cubic meters and Romania annually
\nexploits 18 million cubic meters, where is the difference of 20 million cubic
\nmeters. As these 20 million cubic meters fail to appear in the records, our
\nlogical conclusion is they have been exploited illegally.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Activists
\nbelieve that these figures are all the more disquieting as the first cycle
\nrevealed that between 2008-2012 illegal deforestation stood at 8.8 million
\ncubic meters, 234% less than the quantity reported in the second NFI cycle. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nNovember last year, Agent Green, Romania’s main environmental organization,
\npublished a report on the exploitation of the country’s old-growth forests.
\nAccording to the report, thousands of hectares of virgin forests decay
\nirreversibly on a yearly basis. Many of these forests have been included in the
\nNatura 2000 network, an area currently under protection at European level. In
\nthe past five years Romania has lost through exploitation the equivalent of 36
\nhundred hectares of old-growth forest. The most affected parks are Calimani,
\nDomogled-Valea Cernei and Semenic – Cheile Carasului, which are home to beech
\nforests part of the UNESCO heritage list as well as Europe’s largest beech-tree
\nreserve at the Nera Springs. Conservationists have even called on the European
\nCommission to intervene for the preservation of Romania’s protected areas. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According
\nto the NFI, 29.55% of Romania’s total surface is covered by forests, below the
\nEuropean average of 32.4%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The results show a disconcerting drop in Romania’s forested areas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44315],"tags":[43186,44405,44403,44402,44404],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-153197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-planet","tag-agent-green","tag-fordaq-romania","tag-forests-and-woodlands","tag-national-forest-inventory","tag-tree-coverage-illegal-logging"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n