Heavy rain clatters on the windscreen of Ion Holban’s four-by-four as he shifts through the gears to make it up a steep dirt track deep in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, a wilderness where pristine forests host bears, wolves, lynx and wildcats. Holban wants to keep it this way, which is why he has organised a 50-strong group of experts and campaigners to join him on a week-long mission to map out the vast tracts of ancient woodland before it’s too late.
“There’s pressure from logging all across Romania,” says Holban, the campaign co-ordinator of Agent Green, an anti-logging NGO. “The government is not treating the virgin forests with the respect and value that they deserve. There’s very little protection in place.”
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
