Romsilva, WWF Danube Carpathian Romania enter agreement to promote responsible forest management

Romania's National Forest Management Corporation Romsilva and the WWF Danube Carpathian Programme Romania (WWF-DCP) have signed a new co-operation agreement that aims to support each other in order to promote responsible forest management, according to a press statement released on Monday. Attending the joint meeting at Romsilva's main offices were Romsilva Director General Gheorghe Mihailescu; Radu Vlad, coordinator of regional forestry projects; Radu Nicolae Melu, national forest department manager with the WWF Danube Carpathian Programme Romania, along with Romsilva professionals. "The co-operation agreement establishes the terms of co-operation between the two signatory parties to the projects carried out by WWF-DCP in order to support responsible forest management for sustainable development in the Danube-Carpathian ecoregion," reads the statement. Co-operation will consist of carrying out specific joint activities aimed at identifying forests of a high conservation value and their proper management; increasing the institutional capacity regarding the management of the UNESCO World Heritage sites; increasing the capacity of the stakeholders to facilitate their proactive and constructive involvement in the forest certification process; risk assessment regarding illegal logging and mitigation measures; developing a methodology for assessing the efficiency of forest protection systems and controlling illegal harvesting of wood; organising training seminars and internal audits to facilitate the uniform implementation of the provisions of the national forest management standard in Romania. Romsilva will provide the WWF-DCP team of specialists with logistical support for the field activities, available data needed to fulfill the objectives of the protocol and contribute its own specialists for the conduct of actions in the activity plan for successful implementation of the agreement. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Nicoleta Gherasi; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)