On the steep, dark slopes of the Carpathian mountains, 300-year-old beech trees scrape the sky in one of Europe’s last remaining virgin forests, spared from any human intervention for centuries.

These are “unique forests”, home to thousands of brown bears, lynxes and wolves, “mammals nearly extinct in western and central European countries,” the Royal Dutch Society for Nature Conservation notes.

But as demand for timber surges, the last great swathes of ancient forest in Europe are at risk, say green campaigners.

Environment Minister Laszlo Borbely pledged to beef up protection of what he called a treasure of biodiversity. The move came after President Traian Basescu named the forests a vital asset for Romania’s image abroad.

But turning this vow into reality may be tough in a country struggling with a creaking legal system and deep-rooted corruption at local level.

Primary or old forests, which include some of the world’s most species-rich ecosystems, account for 36 per cent, 1.4 billion hectares, of the world’s forest area, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

In Sinca, central Romania, the forest hosts imposing century-old indigenous 45- or 50-metre trees, interspersed with striplings and fallen trunks where innumerable species of insects and plant have made their home.

In Europe, these wild forests have disappeared except in Scandinavia and Eastern countries. In Romania, they are vast, even though they have shrunk from some two million hectares in the 19th century to around 250,000 hectares today, according to official figures.

“It’s thanks to their inaccessibility that they have survived,” said Erika Stanciu, the head of the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Carpathians/ Forests and Protected Areas Programme.

The remoteness that protects them is being nibbled away by economic development as the former Communist country strives for prosperity.

“Over 80 per cent of Romania’s virgin forests are not protected in any way at the moment and are at risk of being legally destroyed,” the WWF said last month.

“Once virgin forests are exploited, the genetic and ecological assets that have accumulated for years in their ecosystems are irremediably lost,” Victor Giurgiu, a member of the Romanian Academy said.

A petition urging the government “to take urgent and efficient protection measures” garnered some 100,000 signatures .

Under pressure, Mr Borbely pledged last month to finalise by the end of the year legislation putting all virgin forests under complete protection.

The Carpathians Mountains

In the beech forest one can admire the gray owl.

Location: Eastern wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe, curving 1500 kilometres along the borders of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and northern Hungary.

Romania contains by far the largest area of the Carpathians, and forms the eastern and southern boundaries of the region.

The Romanian Carpathians are divided into three groups: Eastern Carpathians, Southern Carpathians and Western Carpathians.

The Carpathians’ ensemble is characterised by its varied landscape owing to the different types of relief particularities including glacial, karstic, riverine and structural-lithological.

They contain the highest concentration of large carnivores in Europe, with estimates of over 6,000 brown bears, 2,500 wolves and some 1,750 lynx living in the region.

Flora: The flora of the Carpathians includes 1,350 species, among which 116 are endemic.

The Carpathian floral year begins at the end of February, beginning of March, with the coltsfoot, the snowdrop, the hollow wort and the pheasant’s eye.

Fauna: It is extremely rich and varied. There are numerous and various species of insects that can be seen everywhere, like butterflies and all sorts of beetles, trout, umbers, the salamanders, the snakes of Aesculap and lizards.

In the beech forest live around 100 species of birds; in the common spruce forest around 40 others; and in the superior areas 13 more species.

Most of the mammals living in the Carpathians can be found in the forests: the Carpathian stag, the brown bear, the lynx, the weasel, the squirrel, the fox and so on.

The rocky areas constitute the kingdom of the chamois, where the mountain salamander lives as well.