Prince Charles praises Romania’s rich forests at launch of European forest restoration project

Britain’s Prince Charles attended the launch of the largest reforestation project in Europe on Monday and praised Romania’s rich forests teeming with animals and ancient trees.

Biodiversity

„The biodiversity here in Romania remains to me unique in Europe. Alongside the ancient mixed forest, there is the size and quality of the major mammals, such as bear, lynx and wolves and incomparable upland and lowland ancient meadowland, with wildflower riches,” he told an audience on Monday in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu.

“Its is a great joy to be back in Romania after three years absence. My thoughts have been with you during this difficult period’, Prince Charles said in Romanian, who returned to the country last year for the first time since 2019.

Charles has been visiting Romania since 1998 and is enamoured with the rural life and its traditions and natural patrimony.

Reforestation

For Monday’s reforestation event, he was joined by Environment Minister Barna Tanczos, leading scientists, experts and practitioners experts in the field of forest biodiversity.

The  project is funded by his Circular Bioeconomy Alliance and developed in collaboration with the Horizon Europe project SUPERB.

Organized by the European Forest Institute and hosted by the Sibiu Philharmonic in Romania, the ThinkForest science-policy event celebrated a growing movement to restore forest biodiversity and advance the circular bioeconomy for the benefit of people and the planet.

Conservationist

The project involves more than 100 forest science and practice organizations from 20 different countries and includes 12 demonstration sites for large-scale forest restoration in Europe.

“Forests are „the backbone of life and nature on our planet,” said Charles who has been a conservationist for decades.

„After relying for more than a hundred years on a linear and fossil-based economy, we have arrived at a tipping point,” he said. “The world has, in many ways, become too big for our planet.”

„For the health, security and livelihoods of our and future generations, we need to protect, invest and work in symbiosis with nature. Our economy ultimately depends on us doing so,” he said.

Local communities

The British heir to the throne emphasized the importance of local communities in this paradigm shift.

„The intrinsic connection between our human life and natural capital is something that Romanian people have understood only too well for centuries. In no other place in Europe have I found such well-preserved and such productive landscapes, which can function at so large a scale.”

Romania has 200 species of butterflies compared to 40 in Britain, he said.

Nature

“All who travel have something to learn from the way Romania has been able to rely on regenerative approaches to create species-rich systems and socio-ecological rich landscapes in areas such as Transylvania, where people still live in harmony with nature,” said Prince Charles.

He added that such approach was not outdated or inefficient „but the very essence of sustainability, based on a profound understanding of nature’s principles and limits.” „It is above all timeless wisdom in practice,” the Prince of Wales added.

Rural landscapes

Romania’s rural landscapes “have an almost spiritual, but also social, economical and ecological significance, which should inspire other countries in Europe to restore the balance between nature and society.”

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VIDEO | Prince Charles heads to Transylvania the place he calls his second home

 

 

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