Romanians Protest Over Illegal Logging

Thousands of Romanians protested in cities across the country on Saturday, calling on the government and parliament to find ways to better protect the country's forests against illegal loggers.

Over 3,000 people gathered in Bucharest, while thousands also demonstrated in the Transylvanian cities of Cluj and Brasov, and in Timisoara, Iasi and Galati.

Holding banners with slogans like "The mob is clearing [forests], the government is protecting [the illegal loggers]", they claimed that Romania is losing three hectares of forest each hour.

After the protests, president Klaus Iohannis on Saturday announced that the illegal deforestation issue would be discussed at a meeting of the country's Supreme Defence Council, CSAT.

Romania is currently trying to adopt changes to its legislation on forests to better protect the country's woodlands. The new draft law makes illegally chopping down trees a crime, with a five-fold increase to penalties. It also aims to regulate the use of wood by the big companies that dominate the forestry sector in Romania.

The law was approved in February by parliament's second chamber, the Camera Deputatilor, but was returned for re-examination by President Iohannis because it limits economic activity.

Romania is more affected by illegal logging than any country in Europe. Some 80 million cubic metres of wood worth five billion euro have been illegally chopped down over the past 20 years, according to official data.

A report released last month by the US branch of the Environmental Investigation Agency, EIA, said that even the biggest wood product companies are involved in illegal logging.

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