There are fortunes to be made from illegal logging in Romania, and much of it comes from state-managed forests. The rot extends all the way from the forest floor to the top of government.
This month, the government in Bucharest passed the 2030 National Forest Strategy, a document meant to enshrine into forestry the EU forestry strategy. The adoption of this document, beyond its intrinsic importance, is a landmark in the implementation of the C2 component for forests and preserving biodiversity as part of the National Program for Recovery and Resilience. In order to issue the strategy, managed by the Ministry of Waters, Forests, and the Environment, the program employed professors of forestry with the Transilvania University of Brasov and the University of Suceava, as well as independent forestry experts. The project is a strategic document with several general aims: ensuring a balanced integration of social, ecological, and economic functions into forest management, obtaining a social agreement for harmonizing of rights, interests, and obligations of interested parties and those affected by forest management, allowing the adaptation of tools for regulation and control,