“Only if someone buys these forests and places them in private hands can we save them, at least until the state realizes the importance of preserving them”
Romania holds 65% of Europe’s virgin forests, and illegal logging reached even state-protected parks like Piatra Craiului. Foundation Conservation Carpathia has bought 27,027 hectares of the Fagaras Mountains toward a goal of 200,000. Hansjörg Wyss writes the checks. When a national park director says the only way to save a forest is for a foreign philanthropist to buy it, the state has already lost.