Famous actor Leonardo DiCaprio, known for his environment-related stances and actions, has praised on his Instagram account the March for Forests held in Bucharest on Sunday.
“More than 4000 people marched last night on the streets of Bucharest, demanding the Romanian Ministry of Forest to put an end to illegal logging and real protection for Europe’s last virgin forests. Similar protests took place in several cities across the country.
Each year, 38 million cubic meters of wood disappear from Romania’s forests. Most of the trees are cut down illegally. .
There have also been hundreds of attacks on forest rangers, including two who have been brutally murdered, for protecting these forests.
From the Amazon to Romania, attacks against forest defenders are increasing. We need to protect the forests and the people who protect them. 🌲🌲🌲 . .
#StopIllegalLogging . 📸 Cătălin Georgescu / @greenpeace_romania . . #greenpeace #forests #forestsarelife #amazon #nature #conservation #trees #treesofinstagram🎄#romania”.
Thousands took to the street in Bucharest and other Romanian cities on Sunday within a march in support of forests.
“Romania’s Forests have no time left! The latest statistics in the National Forestry Inventory shows that illegal logging are happening at an unprecedented pace. Behind them there are are naked mountainsides, landslides, avalanches, disastrous flooding, desertification, foresters killed in the mafia style, divided communities, people exposed to extreme climate changes. We ask the immediate modernization of the Automatic System of Timber Tracking, of the application for citizens <The Forest Inspector> and we ask for a strict protection of the secular and primary woods in Romania”, says the manifesto of the march.
The organizers of the march also warned that , if things continue like this, in several years we’ll have a country without forests, without fresh air and with no natural patrimony. “The widest virgin forests in Europe and their rare species will disappear if the trivial interests and the pursuit of immediate profit prevail. The attack against the forested areas is annually fueling the black market and the corruption with billions of lei ripped out of our common inheritance. These dirty earnings stir violence, divide communities and plant mistrust in the social tissue”.
According to the march’s organizers, 20 million cubic metres of timber disappear annually in Romania.