Over 2,000 persons gathered on Sunday night in the center of Bucharest, near University Square, to participate in a march to defend forests and against violence targeting forest rangers, organized by environment organizations Declic, Agent Green and Greenpeace.
The persons participating in the event, both youths, as well as older people, brought placards with messages such as "All for Park Rangers", "Stop the logging mafia", "Forests save the climate".
"Romania's forests don't have any more time! The last data from the National Forest Inventory shows illegal logging are happening at an unprecedented rate. Behind them remain bald slopes, landslides, avalanches, disastrous floods, desertified areas, mafia-style killed park rangers, communities divided and exposed to extreme climate phenomena. We request the immediate modernization of the Automatic System to Track Wood Materials (SUMAL), the app for citizens Forest Inspector and the strict protection of the primary and secular forests of Romania!" the march's organizers stated on the Facebook page of the event.
Climate change organizations also request measures from the authorities such as satellite monitoring of forests, an electronic register in all wood repositories, mandatory GPS on all wood transporting means, surveillance cameras in key spots of the road network, at sawmills and repositories.
Similar events that were attended by hundreds of people were organized on Sunday in other cities in the country, such as Cluj-Napoca, Brasov, Bistrita and Iasi.