Romania is home to more than a half of Europe’s last remaining old-growth and primeval forests. Sadly, illegal loggers continue to threaten these forests and steal precious wood. Romania’s woodlands are an important part of Europe’s ‘lungs’, yet, six hectares of lumber are disappearing every hour. Illegally! This way, the country is losing 20 million cubic meters of wood which means that five billion lei get lost (this equals to over 1.2 billion USD). It is not only the country’s GDP that suffers; social and ecological consequences appear too, affecting global climate and furthering the ecological crisis.
There is still hope – at least, that’s what Greenpeace Romania is trying to say with its bewitching ad. If in the past the NGO reached out for the authorities’ help — without getting any — now, the charity looks for other creative ways to stop illegal logging with not many commonplace options left. For example, Greenpeace Poland used Minecraft to ‘build’ an exact replica the Białowieża Forest – and, who knows, with similar illegal plundering taking place this might be the only way to admire the beauty of the forest, only digitally.
When it comes to Greenpeace, there’s always a lot of imagination involved. The NGO has guts to express its feelings regardless of what other companies might deem inappropriate. This time, Greenpeace Romania and its creative agency McCann Worldgroup Romania summoned a couple of witches to cast a spell on both the authorities and illegal loggers. Yes, illegal felling of trees must stop, and if the state doesn’t do anything to stop the thieves, maybe an actual curse will help. Before you keep reading, we do have to warn you that the curse you are about to witness would even outdo Annie Lennox…
Greenpeace Romania stands against the complicity and indifference of the authorities to illegal logging with “Curse for Good.” Instead of inviting artists or influencers to speak about the issue and raise money the traditional way, the NGO asked witch Irina Primavera to do her magic to visit the damaged forests and cast a spell on anyone who would dare to cause more mayhem to the trees, hoping the authorities will have to take action. Or get cursed…
Through this unusual approach, to say the least, Greenpeace aims to put pressure on the Ministry of Environment for the urgent modernization of SUMAL (Wood Material Tracking System), which represents the 21st-century technological solution for the automatic and incorruptible surveillance of Romania’s precious woodlands. There’s a petition online to stop the illegal practice, which has been signed by more than 50,000 people by now.
“Unfortunately, all the work done by Greenpeace Romania in the last years for the protection of the secular forests was not supported and doubled by the involvement of the authorities, as well as we were struck by a revolting lack of competence and responsibility. The <Curse for Good> we are launching today is another way of mobilizing Romanians, whether they are superstitious or not, to defend the forest and to ask the authorities for the immediate implementation of a surveillance system that will function properly and transparently,” explain Greenpeace representants. We can all stop illegal logging, either by using a bit of dark magic or by going to the police. It’s all up to us.
Check out the curse that will send chills down even Maria Tanase‘s spine…