Saving Carpathia - The Yellowstone Park of Europe

Karen Potter, Director of Sustainability Hub and ideaXme sustainability ambassador interviews Christoph Promberger, M.Sc., Executive Director Foundation Conservation Carpathia (FCC).

Karen Potter comments:

In 2009, the Foundation Conservation Carpathia was founded by a dozen international philanthropists and conservationists with the goal to stop illegal logging and to protect a significant surface of Carpathian forests to form a completely protected area. The FCC was founded in response to the restitution of formerly nationalised forests to private citizens in Romania. This process triggered massive clear-cuts and thousands of hectares of forests were illegally logged, posing a severe threat to the integrity of the Carpathian ecosystem. Wilderness is disappearing globally at an alarming rate, less than 2% of Europe’s surface is still in its original state and the Carpathian Mountains form some of the largest contiguous forests on the continent with the highest percentage of still virgin woodlands; they contain an extraordinarily high number of species.

Karen is a passionate environment and sustainability campaigner leading Government and Parliamentary efforts to promote Net Zero policy solutions as well as lead on COP26, business, community and civic action. She is a project development specialist with extensive experience in designing and delivering new initiatives to promote sustainability, social responsibility, smart energy, the Green Recovery and clean tech investment. She is highly experienced in government, NGO and public sector communications, building and managing senior stakeholder relations and media engagement.

Christoph Shares His Journey of Managing the Yellowstone Park of Europe:

In this interview, Christoph shares his journey from local conservationist to head of the largest conservation project in Romania. Christoph and his wife Barbara started their efforts to protect the Carpathia Mountains against illegal logging and poaching. Romania was losing national forest on a daily basis as logging corruption was rampant. Christoph and Barbara became inspired to fight corruption at the highest level and developed an international network of support which enabled them to purchase the land and protect the habitat. Christoph, Barbara and a team of experts now manage an area they have dubbed the Yellowstone of Europe.

Interview credits: Karen Potter, ideaXme sustainability ambassador.

If you liked this interview, read our interview with Paula Owen discussing the impact of Covid-19 on climate change.

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