Romania Allocates EUR 60 Million to Afforestation in 2024

According to a press release, Romsilva will plant around 26 million forest saplings this year and regenerate 12,087 hectares.

In this year’s spring and autumn campaigns, Romsilva, the Romanian authority for forest protection, will plant 26 million saplings and regenerate over 12,000 hectares, with an allocated budget of more than EUR 60 million.

8,102 hectares will be naturally regenerated, and another 3,985 hectares artificially regenerated through afforestation works. Also, in the state forestry fund, current addition works will be carried out on plantations of 2,381 hectares, and restoration works on plantations affected by calamities will be carried out on another 726 hectares. This year’s budget for carrying out all afforestation works, additions to plantations, restoration of disaster plantations, maintenance of plantations and naturally regenerated surfaces is about 296 million lei.

Romania’s Ministry of Environment Press Release

International and national journalists write on this subject: Romania is a country where illegal loggers kill for the “green gold,” and Romanian secular forests turn to timber for furniture factories.

The international press focused on Romania’s deforestation problems, especially after the killing of a dedicated young forester, 37 years old, in Maramures, a county near the Ukrainian border. His death sent the Romanian authorities and the whole world a strong message: stop illegal logging!

Belgian publication MO—Mondiaal Nieuws dedicated a report to the persistent and unsolved problem of illegal logging in Romanian forests. The journalists said, “Efforts against global warming will be pointless if we cut down Romanian primeval forests.”

Yet, despite the government’s annual efforts, crimes continue to be committed in Romania by those who consider forests their business yard. Unfortunately, as things go in Romania at the moment, this investment in afforestation seems nothing more than one to fuel the illegal loggers’ need for more timber.