“Legal” Deforestation

The press and the online are filled with articles and photos of the widespread robbery that is taking place in the forests of Romania, even in reservations, national parks or “virgin forests”. What is curious is that no competent authority is notified. What is curious is that no one mentions the fact that such a widespread robbery can only happen with the help of the authorities and under their direct scrutiny and supervision. And certainly, with benefits going directly into their pockets. Equally curious, there is almost only talk about illegal logging; however, on the subject of legal deforestation, which is granted through contracts with some industrial logging companies, nobody is saying anything anymore.

Legal deforestation has become more dangerous than illegal deforestation because it is done with proper documents and contracts to cover up the disaster of massive and irresponsible logging. Not to mention the fact that inside sources speak (off the record, of course) about generalised “legal logging”, when a contract permits logging in a certain area and with a certain maximum quantity of wood, which is not respected, in the sense that the documents are reused several times, so the amount of wood cut becomes many times higher than what is legally presented in the documents. The story will continue, according to some experts, for another 10 years at best, after which we will have no forests left, but a few “well-off people” will have gathered billions of euros, and the wood will end up “alive” and well in the Middle East, China, Japan, etc.

And I want to point this out again: nothing happens without the knowledge and complicity of the authorities; I am sure of this.