Forestry in Romania is one of the most dynamic, yet simultaneously controversial, sectors in Europe. The country prides itself on unique natural resources, including the last so-called primary forests in the European Union, but for decades the sector has been plagued by systemic corruption, illegal logging, and sharp conflicts between the industry and eco-activists.
A look into the past – the forest as an impregnable fortress
In the time of Vlad III the Impaler, or Dracula, the Carpathian forests covered almost the entire region and served as a strategic defensive shield against invasions by the Ottoman Empire. The forests were so thick and impenetrable that they became a trap for foreign armies. Local rulers employed a “scorched earth” policy, retreating into the forests, which they knew perfectly. Trees were cut only for local needs – heating, building houses, and constructing primitive wooden fortifications.
When Wallachia and Moldavia came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, the first major exploitation of forest resources began. Romanian timber – especially the high-quality wood for shipbuilding – was transported to Istanbul in large quantities. To feed a growing population and pay tributes, the lowland forests were gradually cleared, turning them into arable land and pastures.
While the Turks controlled the south of the Romanian lands, Transylvania, which literally translates to “land beyond the forest”, was under the rule of the Hungarian kings and later the Habsburgs. Here, forests were better preserved thanks to stricter feudal laws on hunting and property.
With the development of technology and the appearance of steam-powered sawmills, uncontrolled and aggressive deforestation began in the 19th century. Massive forest areas were felled to provide sleepers for new railway lines and fuel for steam locomotives. Austrian, German, and French companies obtained extensive timber harvesting concessions in the Carpathian Mountains. Clear-cutting on mountain slopes triggered the first massive soil erosion and devastating floods in the lower reaches of rivers.
The first nature conservation laws
Even before the First World War and the unification of Romania in 1918, the intelligentsia and the government began to realize that natural resources were not infinite. In 1881, the first modern Forest Code was adopted in the independent Kingdom of Romania, attempting to introduce principles of sustainable forestry. Despite the laws, by 1918, Romania’s lowland forests, or the so-called Codrii , were almost completely destroyed; only the hard-to-reach high-altitude regions of the Carpathians remained intact.
After the First World War and the annexation of Transylvania in 1918, Romania experienced a huge increase in forest area. Most of the valuable Carpathian mountain forests came under the management of the new Romanian state. During the interwar period, land reform was implemented, with part of the forests being transferred to communities and farmers, while the state maintained a strong regulatory role.
At the end of the Second World War, with the beginning of the communist regime (1947-1989), all Romanian forests were nationalized. The Ceaușescu government created a centralized state forest monopoly, beginning massive, industrialized logging to meet the country's export needs. At the same time, strict forest science with long cutting cycles was introduced, which paradoxically helped preserve large, intact forest massifs in the Carpathian Mountains until the end of the century.
Forest ownership
In Romania, forests cover approximately 6.9 million hectares, or just under 30% of the country's territory. Geographical specifics dictate that two-thirds of the forests are located in mountainous areas – the Carpathians, where economically and ecologically valuable species predominate – beech, spruce, and oak.
After the collapse of the communist regime in 1989, a long, complicated, and chaotic process of forest privatization and restitution, or restoration of ownership rights, began, taking place in several waves. Currently, the forest management structure is divided roughly equally: ~48% of forests still belong to the state and are managed by the national forest administration Romsilva, while the remaining 52% belong to private individuals, churches, and local communities – composesorate.
Restoring ownership rights in Romania, similar to Hungary, created massive fragmentation of properties. Hundreds of thousands of natural persons acquired properties smaller than one hectare. Many new owners, fearing political instability or seeking quick profit, completely clear-cut their forests immediately after taking them over or sold them to international companies.
Nature conservation and compensation
Romania holds more than half of Europe’s remaining so-called primary and old-growth forests outside of Scandinavia and Russia. They provide a refuge for the largest populations of bears, wolves, and lynx in Europe. Approximately 38% of Romania’s forests are included in the Natura 2000 network or national parks.
The country has a legal framework for paying compensation to private forest owners in whose lands strict prohibitions on economic activity have been established. Within the framework of European Union funds and the state budget, owners are entitled to annual payments for lost income, which can reach several hundred euros per hectare in forests with a total logging ban.
However, the practical operation of this system in Romania has been chronically sluggish. Due to bureaucratic hurdles, disorganized land registries, and delays in state budget funding, many private owners have not received compensation for years. This creates a destructive incentive – instead of waiting for state support for nature conservation, some owners choose to engage in the illegal market and cut down their forest as quickly as possible.
The woodworking sector is dominated by a massive presence of foreign capital, particularly Austrian timber industry concerns, such as the historically named Holzindustrie Schweighofer, now renamed HS Timber Group, which built huge, modern sawmills in the country. Romania exports very large volumes of sawn timber, profiles, furniture parts, and wood pellets to North Africa, the Middle East, and European Union member states. At the same time, the local furniture industry of small and medium-sized enterprises faces difficulties as it cannot compete with the large concerns on raw material prices.
Problems, conflicts, and scandals
Romania’s forest sector has experienced the most severe legal and environmental scandals in the entire European Union in recent decades.
The so-called Forest Mafia (Mafia Pădurilor) has caused great harm to the forests. Well-organized criminal networks operate in Romania, bringing together corrupt foresters, police officers, politicians, and businessmen. Environmental activist organizations Greenpeace and Agent Green believe that the actual volume of timber felled is almost twice the officially registered amount – with millions of cubic meters being illegally cut each year, including in national parks and UNESCO-protected forests.
The conflict over Romanian forests is literally bloody. In recent years, several foresters and environmental activists attempting to document and stop illegal logging have been killed. Dozens of journalists and activists have been brutally beaten. This situation has created a rule-of-law crisis that is constantly monitored by international human rights and environmental organizations. The European Commission launched an official infringement procedure against Romania for failing to effectively protect Natura 2000 forests and stop illegal logging. The country faces massive fines if the situation is not drastically improved.
Perspectives and plans for forest sector development
Influenced by pressure from Brussels, the Romanian government has begun implementing ambitious reforms in recent years aimed at digitalization and stricter control.
Romania has introduced one of the most progressive digital timber traceability systems in the world – SUMAL 2.0. Every timber transport must be registered in a smartphone app with GPS coordinates and photographs of the cargo. Additionally, a satellite imagery system is being developed that automatically signals if a tree canopy suddenly disappears in a protected zone.
A new, more radical Forest Code is being drafted and adopted, which provides for a complete ban on clear-cutting in national parks and significantly increasing criminal penalties for illegal tree felling or transport.
Using EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds, Romania has begun a national program for forest restoration and planting new forests in areas suffering from desertification – particularly in the south of the country. The program aims to create tens of thousands of hectares of new forest stands by 2030, while strengthening strict control over the old Carpathian forest massifs.
The impact of foreign concerns on Romania’s timber market
After Romania's accession to the European Union in 2007, significant foreign capital entered the country’s forest sector, clearly dominated by Austrian timber giants – primarily Holzindustrie Schweighofer (formerly HS Timber Group), as well as Egger and Kronospan. These companies built huge, ultramodern sawmills and board plants near the Carpathian Mountains that could process millions of cubic meters of wood per year.
The arrival of these companies had a dual, but overall, possibly destructive impact on the local economy. Foreign concerns, thanks to their massive capital, were able to bid the highest prices in the roundwood auctions held by the state forest administration, Romsilva. Local Romanian small and medium-sized woodworking companies and traditional furniture manufacturers could not compete financially and were literally driven out of the market. Thousands of local sawmills went bankrupt, and Romania turned from a country that historically manufactured furniture into an exporter of raw timber and pellets.
The massive capacities of the factories created a constant, insatiable demand for wood. Although foreign concerns claim that they only purchase legal wood, investigations by environmental activists and journalists repeatedly proved that huge volumes of illegally cut trees, even from national parks, were entering the supply chains. Local intermediaries and the “Forest Mafia” used loopholes in the system to legalize stolen wood and deliver it to the large factories. As a result of pressure and scandals, the international certification organization FSC even temporarily revoked the sustainability certificates of the largest Austrian companies in Romania.
Comparison with Latvia
In Latvia, the entry of foreign capital into the forest sector, mainly Nordic funds and companies – Södra, Stora Enso, Bergvik or IKEA, proceeded quite differently. The Scandinavians did not just invest in building huge, market-monopolizing sawmills in Latvia, but also in purchasing forest land and long-term management.
In Latvia, local timber processors were able to maintain a leading position in processing – local flagships Latvijas Finieris, AKZ, Stiga RM, Pata, Gaujas Koks and many strong regional sawmills successfully compete with foreign capital. Despite the recently artificially triggered scandals in the forest sector, Latvia’s local woodworking industry is sufficiently consolidated and technologically advanced, so we have not experienced, and it seems we will not experience, the Romanian scenario where foreign concerns literally dictate the terms to the sector and destroy local entrepreneurship.
Timber traceability
In the fight against illegal logging, Romania was forced to create one of the most radical and technologically complex timber turnover control systems in the world, while in Latvia the system is based on high digital integration and legal trust. Since paper documents and foresters' signatures were being mass-forged in Romania, the state introduced the digital system SUMAL 2.0, which controls timber in real-time from the stump to the factory gate. The principles of the system's operation are extremely strict. Every truck driver must register in the app before leaving the forest. They must enter the exact cubic volume of timber, species, and the felling permit number. The app automatically records the transport’s GPS coordinates throughout the journey. The driver is obliged to upload four real-time photographs of the loaded cargo from different angles. If the vehicle deviates from the route or the GPS signal is lost, the system automatically calls the police and the forest inspection. Any citizen can enter the number of an oncoming timber truck into a public online database and see if that transport has an active and legal digital delivery note.
Romania uses satellite images that compare forest canopy cover every few days. If the satellite detects a sudden disappearance of trees in a zone where no felling permit has been issued, the system automatically generates an alert for law enforcement agencies.
Latvia's timber accounting and delivery note model
In Latvia, the system is also digital, based on business efficiency rather than criminal investigation. The Latvian system is overseen by the State Forest Service through the State Forest Register, and it operates in close linkage with the State Revenue Service. In Latvia, the forest sector has completely abandoned paper documents for years. Electronic delivery notes are used for timber transport, which are generated in company accounting systems and automatically transferred to the State Revenue Service and State Forest Service databases.
Felling permits are issued electronically. When cargo arrives at large ports or sawmills, automatic scanners installed there precisely count the cubic meters and compare them with the data indicated on the delivery note. In Latvia, drivers do not have to photograph the cargo from four angles or keep a constant state-controlled GPS tracker turned on in a mobile app. Control is based on risk analysis and regular, but not massive, inspections by the forest service and police on the roads.
Romania’s SUMAL is a “police state” style digital instrument created to stop the bloody and brutal theft of forest resources involving state officials. The Latvian model is a modern, transparent e-governance solution that ensures impeccable tax payment and proof of legal origin in calm and legally ordered conditions. At least for now, that is the case, and one must believe that this approach will never change here.
Sources: Zemeunvalsts.lv, Romanian and European Union information sites