Donations Help Environmental Group Save Virgin Forests in Romania
WWF, which has over 50 years of experience in saving and preserving wildlife around the world, works in Romania to save brown bears and the virgin forests, among other priorities.
In 2011, because over 80 percent of Romania's virgin forests were not benefiting from any form of protection and were in danger of being destroyed, WWF-Romania started a national awareness and lobby campaign. The group sought legislation to ensure that all the virgin forests were given protected status. In only 33 days, 100,000 people signed an online petition. Many prominent Romanians joined the campaign, and the minister of environment and forests signed a protocol with WWF, committing to protect the virgin forests.
The document states that Romania's virgin forests will receive the status of protected forests and that the ministry will work with WWF to identify, map, and protect the forests. WWF-Romania helped complete the necessary papers and contributed over 100,000 euros from its own funds to evaluate and map the virgin forests. It also compiled additional information for a future National Catalogue of Romania's virgin forests.
WWF-Romania is among the first 100 nonprofits that applied for the donation program run by TechSoup Romania. The money it saved by requesting software donations through TechSoup has helped the organization protect brown bears, rivers, endangered species, and virgin forests — and to turn off the lights in over 53 Romanian cities during Earth Hour.
