The areas of strict and integral protection in the Domogled - Valea Cernei National Park (PNDVC) will increase from 56%, as they are at present, to at least 75% of the surface of this park, in which there are located the most representative virgin beech forests in Europe, the Minister of the Environment, Tanczos Barna, said on Thursday, on the occasion of the first session of consultations that was organized on this topic at Baile Herculane.
"The fact that in Domogled - Valea Cernei we have the most representative virgin beech forests in Europe, an aspect also confirmed by UNESCO, can only make us proud. And this is primarily thanks to the local communities here, as well as thanks to you, the ones who have managed these forests together for the past hundreds of years. Our objective, assumed in the governance programme, is to increase these protection areas to at least 75% of the Park's surface. In order to reach the desired 75%, we need your help, because in addition to identifying new, truly ecologically valuable areas to be brought under protection, we need to change mindsets and get all stakeholders on our side. Today we start this process, including in the PNDVC and we will replicate it in all the other national parks," minister Tanczos Barna told the foresters.
The participants, i.e. the PNDVC managers and the representatives of the forestry structures that manage the forest in the park, concluded that a dedicated forestry management is needed in the national parks in Romania, different from the one applied in the production forests, Agerpres.
"Also, it is mandatory that firewood for the local communities continues to be provided and, last but not least, Romsilva must invest in modern, non-invasive exploitation technologies, so that any forestry work in the Park has a minimal effect on ecosystems," said the Minister of the Environment.