Prince Charles: Romania is losing 3 hectares of virgin forest an hour

Prince Charles of Wales (in picture, right) has appealed to Romania to protect its forests, in a message sent to coincide with the premiere of the third part of the Wild Carpathia documentary on Romania last night (October 30). Via British Ambassador to Romania Martin Harris, who attended the premiere gala in Bucharest, the Prince of Wales said that the

country was losing three hectares of virgin forests an hour and half of this was lost in areas which should be protected.

A frequent visitor to Romania where he owns property, the Prince said he wanted to support a cause that was very dear to his heart, protecting Romania's wild Carpathian forests. “One of the reasons I have also liked coming back to Romania is its extraordinarily beautiful scenery and its wild virgin forests in the Carpathian Mountains,” the Prince said in his message delivered via the ambassador. But said that forests can vanish very quickly, noting the loss of 3 hectares of forest an hour in Romania. “What you have here in Romania has become extremely scarce. Very many European countries have little or no virgin forest at all. For example, in the not very distant past, we had magnificent forests in UK, but we cut them down, so now we only have small forests, and the fauna also disappeared. What happened in the Scotland Mountains is a warning for what could happen in the Carpathians unless you protect them,” said Prince Charles in his statement. According to Romanian Environment minister Rovana Plumb, Romania has 210,000 hectares out of the 322,000 hectares of virgin land in the Carpathian region. The third part of the Wild Carpathia series, produced by Almond Films, will be broadcast worldwide starting next month. In Romania, Wild Carpathia - Wild Forever, which also features an interview with Prince Charles, similarly to the first part, will be broadcast on Travel Channel on November 8 at 21,00. The series is presented by Charlie Ottley, writer and presenter. This was part of the three-part series, a collaboration between Travel Channel and the Romanian Tourism Authority. The first episode of the program, launched in October 2011, received financing from the European Fund for Nature, while funding for the next two episodes, some EUR 900,000, will come from Romania, according to Maria Grapini, the minister delegate for tourism, who signed the contract earlier in April. The second episode, launched in September 2013, and the third one feature interviews with Romania's Princess Margareta II and rower Ivan Patzaichin, who will promote Romania. The third episode focuses on the Northern Romania, Maramures and Bucovina, according to co-producer Alasdair Grant. Prince Charles of Wales, who owns several restored properties in Transylvania, says his genealogical tree shows he's a descendent of Vlad the Impaler, so he has “a bit of a stake in the country," he says during the documentary. editor@romania-insider.com