Romania has the largest surface of virgin forests in the European Union, estimated at a quarter of a million hectares, said Environment Minister Laszlo Borbely.
The protocol entails the ministry and the environmental NGO will inventory all forests in Romania by the end of 2012.
This year, the minister said, fines for illegal wood cutting amounted to nearly 27 million lei (EUR6.2 million) and state funds assigned to plant trees were double compared with 2010.