On February 18, 2020, as part of the LIFE18-NAT_RO_001082 project, we held a working meeting on the virgin forests of the Făgăraș Mountains at the headquarters of the Foundation Conservation Carpathia, in Brasov.

The main entities/institutions represented at the workshop included the Romanian Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests, the General Directorate of Forestry, the Brasov Forestry Guard, the Ploiești Forestry Guard, the National Directorate of Forestry – the Protected Areas Service, WWF Romania, Greenpeace Romania, Euronatur, Department of Forest Ecology Czech University of Life Sciences (Prague, Czech Republic), My Sme Les Initiative Slovakia, Rottenburg University of Applied Forest Sciences, FCC and the Carpathia Forestry District. The event was moderated by Tiberiu Chiricheș, director of ProPark – Foundation for Protected Areas.

It was an intense working day – with presentations given by the participants, alongside debates about the current situation and proposals for improvement. Problems were identified, but also solutions for continuing the process of identifying and introducing virgin and quasi-virgin forests into the National Catalogue, for full protection.

The working group will continue to work on the LIFE project and further meetings will be held on this topic.