IIIegaI Iogging in the forests of

Romania between 2009 and 2011

|ntroductlon
|nstltutlons wlth atrlbutlons of forestry admlnlstratlon and control
The results of the study
Methodology
Concluslons
3
4
l0
l4
l5
C
U
P
R
I
N
5
wlthout healthy and thlvlng forests, our planet cannot
sustaln llfe. Untll now, up to 80% of the worlds forests
have been degraded or destroyed. Greenpeace ls runnlng
a global campalgn to stop deforestatlons untll 2020 to
protect what ls left of these extraordlnary ecosystems.
8esldes the economlc lmportance, forests have a cruclal
role ln malntalnlng the cllmate characterlstlcs. At a global
level, deforestatlon ls one of the maln factors that
contrlbute to cllmate change.
The surface of Pomanla ls covered wlth forests ln a
procentage of 29%, compared to the average value of the
Luropean Unlon, whlch ls over 40%'.
Approxlmately 5l,9% of the forest covered areas are ln
mountaln reglons, and the rest are ln hllls and plalns
areas.
The tree specles are dlstrlbuted, malnly, accordlng to the
rellef formes and phytocllmatlc noors.
Pegardlng the specles structure, the forests comprlse of
the followlng maln specles: beech (32%), spruce (23%),
oak(l7%), r (5%), dlnerent hardwood specles (5%), other
softwood specles (l5%) and other reslnous (2%).
Sadly, the lllegal logglng phenomena ls very wldespread
ln the world and also ln Pomanla. Greenpeace carrled out
an lnvestlgatlon on thls matter to document the sltuatlon
and count the number of cases of lllegal logglngs
between 2009 and 20ll. These cases are taken ln the
records of the responslble authorltles.
Introduction
32
23
17
5 5
15
2

1. http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/fore/characteristics/index_en.htm
2. Source: Ministry of Enviroment and Forestry, the State of the forests 2010 report
http://www.mmediu.ro/paduri/management_forestier/2011-11-18_management_forestier_stareapadurilor2010.pdf , pg 9
3. Source: Ministry of Enviroment and Forestry
http://www.mmediu.ro/paduri/management_forestier/2011-11-18_management_forestier_stareapadurilor2010.pdf , pg 11
Proportions of tree species (%)
B
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1
Pomanla has 6,5l5,000 hectares of forest, of whlch
3,339,000 belong to the Pomanlan state, 2,079,000 are
owned by physlcal and [urldlcal persons, l,024,000
hectares are publlc property of the terrltorlal-
admlnlstratlve unlts and 73 thousand hectares are prlvate
property of terrltorlal-admlnlstratlve unlts.
5l% of the forestry fund ls publlc property and ls admlnls-
tered malnly by the Natlonal Porest Admlnlstratlon-
Pomsllva-and 49% ls prlvate property, belng mostly
admlnlstered by prlvate forestry structures.
Up to the end of 20l0, 463 of forestry admlnlstratlon
structures were authorlzed and re-authorlzed (accordlng
to the Mlnlster Order 904/20l0), of whlch 325 Porest
Dlstrlcts from the Natlonal Porest Admlnlstratlon -
Pomsllva structure and l38 prlvate Porest Dlstrlcts.
Deforestatlon ls a wldespread phenomena ln Pomanla,
especlally ln the countles from the mountaln area, and
the authorltles have the responslblllty to manage and
monltor the forestry lnterventlons. Also, lf lllegal logglngs
occur, lt ls the reponslblllty of the authorltles to perform
lnspectlons and to apply necessary sanctlons - and lf lt ls
the case, to draft crlmlnal les.
Accordlng to the current Porest Code, approved ln March
2008 and updated ln 20l0, forest management ls the
responslblllty of the Mlnlstry of Lnvlronment and
Porestry, whlch has, ln lts turn, more subordlnated lnstltu-
tlons, such as: The Natlonal Porest Admlnlstratlon-
Pomsllva, Terrltorlal Porestry Peglme and Huntlng |nspec-
torates, the Porest Pesearch and Management |nstltute,
the Natlonal Lnvlronment Guard, and the Natlonal
Lnvlronmental Protectlon Agency. (See Figure 1, pag. 9).
Institutions with atributions of
forestry administration and controI
^
4. Source: Ministry of Environment and Forestry
http://www.mmediu.ro/paduri/management_forestier/2011-11-18_management_forestier_stareapadurilor2010.pdf
5. Source: Ministry of Environment and Forestry
http://www.mmediu.ro/paduri/management_forestier/2011-11-18_management_forestier_stareapadurilor2010.pdf , pagina 19
The purpose of the Natlonal Porest Admlnlstratlon -
Pomsllva, ls to manage the forest fund from the publlc
state property ln a sustalnable and unltary way, accordlng
to the provlslons of the forest plannlngs and forestry
reglme norms, wlth te purpose of ralslng the contrlbutlon
of the forests to the lmprovement of envlronmental
condltlons and to provlde wood to the natlonal economy
and other forest products and speclc forestry servlces.
Pomsllva ls functlonlng ln the base of Law no. 46/2008
(Porest Code) and accordlng to the Govermental Declslon
no. 229/2009 regardlng the reorganlsatlon of the
Natlonal Porest Admlnlstratlon-Pomsllva.
wlthln the structure of the Natlonal Porest
Admlnlstratlon-Pomsllva terrltorlal unlts wlth no [urldlcal
personallty are functlonlng (Porest Dlrectorates) as well
as the Development and Pesearch Paclllty for ralslng fur
anlmals ln Targu Mures and a unlt wlth [urldlcal personal-
lty - The Porest Pesearch and Management |nstltute.
TerritoriaI
|t has representant omces ln each county and 9 reglonal
coordlnatlon omces. Under thelr coordlnatlon also enter
the state and prlvate Porest Dlstrlcts.
NationaI Forest Administration
- RomsiIva

6. www.rosilva.ro
The TerritoriaI Inspectorate for
Forestry and Hunting Regime
(ITR5V)
T
a
b
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1
Ilfov
Teleorman
Giurgiu
Ialomia
Clrai
Constana
Brila
Buzu
Galai
Tulcea
Vaslui
Vrancea
Mure
Harghita
Covasna
Sibiu
Braov
Vlcea
Gorj
Dolj
Mehedini
Olt
Suceava
Bacu
Iai
Botoani
Neam
Cluj
Bistria
Nsud
Maramure
Alba
Satu Mare
Slaj
Bihor
Arad
Timi
Cara
Severin
Hunedoara
Dmbovia
Arge
Prahova
ITRSV
Bucureti
ITRSV
Focani
ITRSV
Braov
ITRSV
Vlcea
ITRSV
Suceava
ITRSV
Cluj
ITRSV
Oradea
ITRSV
Timioara
ITRSV
Ploieti
Regional structure of
Territorial Forestry
Regime and hunting Inspectorate

|TPSv ls an lnstltutlon wlth [urldlcal personallty subordl-
nated to the Mlnlstry of Lnvlronment and Porestry, organ-
lsed as a reglonal structure wlth lnspectorates that have
terrltorlally llmlted competences, that coordlnate,
oversee and perform, through forestry and huntlng
lnspectlons, actlvltles to lmplement and control the
forestry and huntlng reglme ln the glven countles. the
forestry and huntlng lnspectlons ln the organlsed
structure do not have [urldlcal personallty, belng organ-
lsed ln compartments ln the glven countles to |TPSv,
except the county where the |TPSv omce ls found. The
|TPSv functlons as a publlc lnstltutlon nanced from the
state budget.
The functlons, ob[ectlves and own attrlbutlons of |TPSv
are establlshed accordlng to the Governmental Declslon
333/2005 to reorganlse terrltorlal forestry and huntlng
dlstrlcts lnto forestry and huntlng reglme lnspectorates
and accordlng to the provlslons of the reglementatlons
regardlng the forestry and huntlng reglme.
The Porestry Pesearch and Management |nstltute (|CAS)
was founded ln l933 as a publlc lnstltutlon of natlonal
lnterest, speclallzed ln researchlng and lmplementlng
new technologles ln the publlc and prlvate forestry
sector, ln order to ensure the sustalnable management of
Pomanlan forests.

The Forestry Research and
Management Institute

7. www.icas.ro
NationaI nvironmentaI Guard
The Natlonal Lnvlronmental Guard ls a publlc lnstltutlon
that functlons as a speclallzed organ of the central publlc
admlnstratlon, wlth [urldlcal personallty, entlrely
nanced by the state budget, subordlnated to the central
publlc authorlty of envlronmental protectlon.

The Natlonal Lnvlronmental Guard ls a speclallzed lnspec-
tlon and control body and the commlssloners are publlc
servants wlth a speclc statute, that can take sanctlonlng
measures, can suspend/halt actlvltles due to pollutlon
and envlronmental deterloratlon

The Natlonal Lnvlronmental Protectlon Agency ls the speclal-

lzed lnstltutlon of the central publlc admlnlstratlon, subordl-
nated to the Mlnlstry of Lnvlronment and Porestry, wlth
competences ln lmplementlng pollcles and leglslatlon ln the
eld of envlronmental protectlon, establlshed by the
Governmnetal Declslon no. 9l8 slnce 30 August 20l0
regardlng reorganlslng and functlonlng of the Natlonal
Agency for Lnvlronmental Protectlon and of publlc lnstltu-
tlons that lt coordlnates. The Natlonal Lnvlronmental Protec-
tlon Agency was founded ln 2004, lt has elght reglonal agencls
and 34 county agencles, dlrectly subordlnated.
8esldes the lnstltutlons that belongs to the Mlnlstry of
Lnvlromnent and Porestry, also the Gendarmerle and the
Pollce have forest-related atrlbutlons.
or for not respectlng the condltlons lmposed through the
acts of reglementatlon and measures establlshed ln the
ascertalnment notes and ln the lnspectlon and control
reports. The personnel wlth control attrlbutlons ls lnvested
wlth the publlc authorlty of the state, ln order to perform lts
attrlbutlons, as well as the work obllgatlons.
The Lnvlronmental Guard controls the way the blologlcal
resources, of wlld nora and fauna are capltallzed, the shery
fund ln the natural waters and of anlmals of huntlng lnterest,
lt organlzes preventlon and control actlons, to avold the
dlstructlon of natural habltats
ln the protected areas, lt controls how the envlromental
leglslatlon ls respected ln the protected areas, parks and
natural reservatlons, organlslng common actlons wlth thelr
representants, ln order to protect the natural habltats.
The NationaI nvironmentaI
Protection Agency
8. Decision nr. 112 of 18 February 2009 regarding organising and functioning of National Environmental Guard
http://gnm.ro/staticdocs/HG_112_2009.pdf?PHPSESSID=e07f396754b31f51fdded401b0c90709
The central unlt of the Pomanlan Gendarmerle, the
General Gendarmerle |nspectorate has a [urldlcal person-
allty and general terrltorlal competence. |t plans, organ-
lses, runs, coordlnates and controls the actlvlty of the
subordlnated structures, lt ensures the collaboratlon wlth
other state lnstltutlons, governmental organlsatlons,
both natlonal and from abroad.
|nltlally, the Gendarmerle had l6 dlnerent attrlbutlons
related to the ascertalnments of forestry contraventlons
and applylng the sanctlons provlded by the law.
Accordlng to the Porest Code, a part of these atrlbutlons
have been taken away from the Gendarmerle, currently
lt ls abllltated to ensure speclal support ln organlslslng
forest watch and only to ascertaln contraventlons,
wlthout belng able to apply sanctlons'.
The department for forest onence ght wlthln the Poma-
nlan Pollce runs speclc actlvltles to prevent and ght
lllegal logglng and tlmber transport from the state and
prlvate forest fund that exlst on the admlnlstratlve-
terrltorlal radlus of the countles, lt runs lnformatlon and
operatlon actlvltles, lt ascertalns crlmes and applles
contraventlonal sanctlons to the forest and shery
reglme, lt relates to the county Porest Dlrectorate, the
|nspectorate for Terrltorlal Porest and Huntlng Peglme,
the terrltorlal structures of the Lnvlronmental Guard, the
Plnanclal Guard, the Natlonal Agency for Plshlng and
Plsherles and other lnstltutlons or organlsatlons wlth
attrlbutlons ln these elds.
|n the forest eld, the pollce agents run eld lnspectlons,
ascertaln the facts, apply the properly sanctlons and draft
crlmlnal les, lf the case ts.
The PoIice

The Gendarmerie
9. http://www.legestart.ro/Legea-171-2010-stabilirea-sanctionarea-contraventiilor-silvice-(MzU4MDgw).htm
10. http://www.legislatieromaneasca.ro/uploads/files/CODUL_SILVIC.pdf , pagina 22
From the diagram the structure of the institutions
in relation to the Ministry of Environment
and Forestry regarding the activity of coordination
control and financing.
Coordination
Coordination and finance
Control

F
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1
Ministry of Environment
and Forestry
Romsilva
ICAS
41 County Forest
Directorates
State Forest
Districts
Private Forest
Districts
ITRSV
Repartition by county of the illegal tree logging cases
registered by the authorities between 2009 and 2011.
8ased on the answers of the authorltles,
between 2009 and 20ll, Greenpeace
reglstered a total number of 3l.456 natlonal
cases of lllegal tree logglng that resulted
wlth sanctlons (contraventlonal nes or
crlmlnal records, dependlng on the severlty
of the deed).

ResuIts of Greenpeace 5tudy

F
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2
44
Satu Mare
80
8lhor
50
Arad
501
Tlml
543
Cara Severln
230
Hunedoara
2503
Gor[
155
valcea
944
Dol[
29
Olt
410
Mehedlnl
570
Sla[
1025
Clu[
408
Mure
441
Alba
1003
Slblu
380
8raov
494
Covasna
510
Harghlta
1290
Neam
1910
8acu
11
|al
150
vaslul
15
Galal
1302
vrancea
17
8uzu
2297
Prahova
178
Dambovla
458
Arge
39
Teleorman
8
Glurglu
87
8rlla
172
Tulcea
82
Constana
225 |alomla
185
Clral
278
|lfov
1535
Maramure
110
Suceava
53
8otoanl
948
8lstrla
Nsud
The Natlonal Lnvlronmental Guard ls a publlc lnstltutlon
that functlons as a speclallzed organ of the central publlc
admlnstratlon, wlth [urldlcal personallty, entlrely
nanced by the state budget, subordlnated to the central
publlc authorlty of envlronmental protectlon.

The Natlonal Lnvlronmental Guard ls a speclallzed lnspec-
tlon and control body and the commlssloners are publlc
servants wlth a speclc statute, that can take sanctlonlng
measures, can suspend/halt actlvltles due to pollutlon
and envlronmental deterloratlon


The most lllegal logglng cases reglstered ln Arges county
(over 6,000) Gor[ (2,500), Prahova (over 2,000), 8acu
(almost 2,000) see table no. 2. The smallest number of
cases of lllegal logglngs reglstered ln the Glurglu and
Teleorman countles, wlth 8, respectlvely 39 cases, where
the forest covered area ls slgnlcantly smaller than other
countles. The numbers dlner a lot also by rellef form, ln
the plaln countles there are more forest covered areas
than ln the predomlnantly mountalnous ones.
Accordlng to the Greenpeace lnvestlgatlon, there are
over ten countles where ln the last three years the
authorltles have reglstered over l,000 lllegal logglng
cases see table no.2.
Thls klnd of lllegal logglng cases found by the authorltles
between 2009 and 20ll were reglstered ln the Arge
county (6,458), Gor[ (2,503) and Prahova (2,297).
The sltuatlon of the l0 countles ls lllustrated ln Graph no.
2.

First ten counties ordered by the number of illegal logging cases ascertained
by the authorities between 2009 and 2011
T
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2
The number of illegal tree logging
registered by the authorities
G
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No. County Number of illegal logging cases (2009-2011)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Arge
Gorj
Prahova
Bacu
Vlcea
Maramure
Vrancea
Neam
Suceava
Cluj
6458
2503
2297
1910
1655
1535
1302
1290
1160
1025
A
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e

G
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j
P
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v
a
B
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u
V

l
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e
a
M
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r
a
m
u
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e

V
r
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e
a
N
e
a
m

S
u
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e
a
v
a
C
l
u
j
2503
2297
1910
155
1535
1302 1290
110
1025
458
11. Forest Code of March 18, 2008
8etween 2009 and 20ll, the most lllegal logglng cases
were reglstered by the Pollce (2l,l27 cases), followd by
the county Porest Dlrectorates (l5,076 cases) and |TPSv
(4,85l cases).
Accordlng to the data communlcated by the authorltles,
the tlmber volume that has been llegally explolted ln
thelr account ls of at least 452,842 cublc meters.
Graph no. 3 shows that there ls a slgnlcant dlnerence
between the number of cases reglstered by the Pollce
and the ones reglstered by the Gendarmerle. The
explanatlon for thls contrast resldes ln the fact that, slnce
20l0, by modlfylng the leglslatlon, some of the attrlbu-
tlons related to the forest eld have been taken away
from the Gendarmerle'.
|n many cases great dlnerences have been observed
between the cases reglstered by |TPSv and the Pollce,
Gendarmerle or the Porest Dlrectorate the blggest
contrast ls ln Arge county where the Pollce reglstered
3,686 cases of lllegal logglngs and |TPSv only 5l.

The illegal logging cases, registered by

the authorities at a national level between
2009 and 2011
G
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3
G
e
n
d
a
r
m
e
r
i
e
P
o
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i
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e
F
o
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e
s
t

D
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e
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t
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a
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e
I
T
R
S
V
238
21127
1507
4851
|n the table below the rst ten countles are presented
accordlng to the dlnerence reglstered between the cases
reglstered by the Pollce and the cases reglstered by |TPSv.
The worst case ls ln Arges county, wlth a dlnerence of
over 3,600 cases between Pollce and |TPSv reportlngs. -
see table no. 3.
Therefore, ln ve countles there are dlnerences of over
l000 cases between the data reglstered by the authorl-
tles: Gor[, valcea, Neam, vrancea and Slblu.
One of the countles where hlgh dlnerences are reglstered
ls Prahova, where the Pollce has no reglstered case, |TPSv
has two, but the Gendarmerle
has 437 cases, and the county Porest Dlrectorate has no
less than 2297 of lllegal logglng reglstered between
2009-20ll. These examples ralse doubts about the
control quallty, the applled sanctlons and forest manage-
ment ln general. Conslderlng the reglonal omces of |TPSv
and anallzlng the number of cases of reported lllegal
logglngs, we can see that most of them enter ln the
records of |TPSv Ploletl, that coordlnates Dambovla,
Arge and Prahova countles - see graphn no.4
Omclally, between 2009 and 20ll, a total number of
almost 9000 cases of lllegal logglngs were reglstered ln
Dambovla, Arge and Prahova.

Differences between the number of cases registered by the authorities

T
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3
Total number of illegal logging cases attributes to the
regional ITRSV offices records
G
r
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4
County Cases registered by the Police Cases registered by ITRSV Difference
Arge
Gorj
Vlcea
Neam
Vrancea
Sibiu
Suceava
Dolj
Maramure
Harghita
3686
2503
1655
1290
1302
1003
1160
944
1535
510
51
25
64
18
61
2
195
13
816
42
3635
2478
1591
1272
1241
1001
965
931
719
468
B
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a
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a
T
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F
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a
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B
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C
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S
u
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e
a
v
a
V

l
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e
a
P
l
o
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e

t
i
817
1254 1274
2052
2795
3949
4574
5808
8933
Greenpeace Pomanla carrled out, between Pebruary and
1uly 20ll, an lnvestlgatlon on the lllegal logglng sltuatlon
ln Pomanla.
Greenpeace asked for lnformatlon about the lllegal
logglng cases, contraventlons and sanctlons applled
referrlng to lllegal logglngs ln all the countles.
Therefore, Greenpeace contacted the |nspectorates for
Terrltorlal Porestry and Huntlng Peglme, the Lnvlronmen-
tal Guard, Gentarmes Terrltorlal |nspectorates, County
Pollce |nspectorates and county Porest Dlrectorates.
Greenpeace Pomanla sent 339 wrltten demands to the
aforementloned lnstltutlons' , from whlch 329 omclal
responses were recleved, referlng to the number of lllegal
logglng cases and applled sanctlons - see table no. 4.
MethodoIogy
^
12. These institutions are obliged to give, when asked, this kind of public information, according to the Law no. 544/2001
Number of demands addressed to the institutions and
number of recieved replies
T
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4
Contacted institution Total of written demands sent Total responses
Environmental Guard
Gendarmerie
Police
ITRSV
Forest Directorate
71
74
98
27
69
66
79
89
28
67
8etween 2009 and 20ll there are omclally over 3l.456 cases of
lllegal logglng cases. |n other words, l0485 cases a year and
clrca 29 lllegal cuttlngs a day.
Most cases of lllegal logglngs were reglstered ln Arge, Gor[
and Prahova countles, a total of ll.258 cases between 200 and
20ll.
Startlng wlth 20l0, the Gendarmerle was taken away some
attrlbutlons, at thls moment lt can only ascertaln but not apply
sanctlons ln the area of lllegal logglng cases.
Pegardlng the number of cases of lllegal logglngs reglstered
by the authorltles, lt must be taken lnto account the fact that
the real total number ls hlgher, to thls sum addlng the cases
that have not been ldentled by the authorltles.
Thls study oners an overvlew on the omclal data glven by the
authorltles, that have the responslblllty to sustalnably manage
forests and to track the cases and sanctlons.
ConcIusions

Greenpeace ls an lndependent global campalgnlng organlsa-

tlon that acts to change attltudes and behavlour, to protect and
conserve the envlronment and to promote peace.