ROMANIA

Minister confirms illegal logging

Article by Philipp Matzku, translated by Susanne Höfler | 26.11.2019 - 12:25

The minister of the environment, Costel Alexe, talked to Marin Gheorge, head of IFN, on site to inform himself about the research results. Alexe concludes that the difference volume of 20 million sm³ comes from illegal logging. Alexe stressed that he fully shares the very pessimistic scenarios of environmental activists, as online portal g4media.ro reports.

The research report is being criticized by Romsilva, forest owner associations and the furniture industry alike.

According to the IFN study, 85% of illegally logged wood is hardwood, especially beech and oak wood. The Romanian competition authority assumed in 2017 already that the majority of the missing wood of the rural population is being used as firewood.