Recognizing Gabriel Paun - A UNEP 2024 Champion for Preserving Carpathian Forests
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) recently announced recipients of the 2024 Champions of the Earth, honoured for their outstanding leadership, brave actions and sustainable solutions to tackle land degradation, drought and desertification. This year’s laureates include a minister of Indigenous Peoples, an environmental defender, a sustainable agriculture initiative, an Indigenous rights advocate, a scientist focused on afforestation, and a pioneering ecologist.
The annual Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour, recognizes trailblazers at the forefront of efforts to protect people and planet.
Among the 6 laureates of 2024 is Gabriel Paun, a Romanian environmental defender and founder of the NGO Agent Green. Paun’s tireless efforts to combat illegal logging and protect biodiversity in the Carpathian Mountains have earned him a prestigious place among the 2024 Champions of the Earth.
A Lifelong Commitment to Protecting Forests
Paun founded Agent Green, an organization committed to exposing and preventing the destruction of Romania’s precious old-growth forests, in 2009. These forests, some of the last remaining in Europe, are vital for maintaining biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and the health of local ecosystems. The Carpathians are home to rare species such as lynx and wolves, and the forests there act as a critical buffer against climate change.
But these forests face an existential threat from illegal logging and deforestation. Paun has spent years documenting these environmental crimes, often putting himself at great personal risk. Paun’s work has led to the protection of thousands of hectares of forest, despite facing multiple challenges, including physical attacks and death threats from those whose illegal activities he exposes.
Paun’s unyielding determination to defend these vital ecosystems has made Agent Green a key player in the fight against environmental degradation in Romania. The organization has filed hundreds of lawsuits to stop illegal logging, some of which have even reached European courts. Despite the obstacles, Paun remains optimistic, firmly believing that environmental justice can and will prevail.
A Global Advocate for Ecosystem Protection
While Paun’s primary focus has been on Romania, his vision extends beyond the country’s borders. One of his latest initiatives is the creation of a shared peace park at the Ukraine-Romania border in the Carpathians. This project is a bold statement of ecological diplomacy, promoting the idea that wildlife and ecosystems do not recognize national boundaries. For Paun, this peace park symbolizes a future where humans and nature can coexist harmoniously.
As Paun explains, “For wildlife and all the other species, there are no boundaries. The only boundary exists in our very own minds.” His work seeks not only to protect the environment but to foster greater cooperation across borders to safeguard the planet’s most vulnerable ecosystems.
In the face of adversity, Gabriel Paun stands as a true Champion of the Earth, a testament to the power of passion, persistence, and the unyielding desire to protect the world’s most precious ecosystems.
