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    Judges for CPOY 75
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    Jesper Houborg (Danish School of Media and Journalism)
    Green Gold
    Silver
    International Picture Story
     
    Green Gold Romania is home to the largest virgin forests in Europe, but during the last 30 years, it has been abused fiercely. Since the fall of communism, large areas of land were given back to their rightful owners. The logging industry evolved, and since the late 1990s and up until now, deforestation and illegal logging has been a huge problem in Romania. Today the mafia controls the industry, and they suppress anyone, who tries to fight against the illegal logging. The local communities in Northern Romania are affected by the conflict around the forest. People live in constant fear of what will happen if they don’t obey the mafia, and yet local activists and forest rangers still risks their lives in the fight for preserving the forest. According to Greenpeace, the Romanian state loses around € 1.5 billion a year to illegal logging. Each year, 18 million m3 of timber is allowed to fell, but in reality, more than 38 million m3 of timber is felled. Tree exported to the European market and used by big companies like IKEA and others, leaving the largest virgin forest in Europe out of control to a corrupt and violent industry. Romania, October 2019
    Story: Green Gold
    Green Gold
    A large group of forest rangers has shown up to their colleague Liviu Pop’s funeral. He was murdered by the mafia on the 16th of October 2019 when he was patrolling the forest. During the last couple of year’s more than a 100 forest activists and rangers have been assaulted, and 6 have been killed in the fight for preserving the forest. Rogoz, 19. October 2019
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    Story: Green Gold
    Green Gold
    A small wood factory in the village of Moldovita. The village is located in the northern part of Romania close to the forest. There are about 5000 inhabitants, and almost everyone is somehow involved in the logging industry, whether they want to or not. Moldovita, October 15, 2019
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    Story: Green Gold
    Green Gold
    Bloodstains from the crime scene near the village of Rogoz. On the 16th of October the local forest ranger, Liviu Pop, was killed by three men in the woods. He had received a call about illegal logging and went out to see it for himself. When he arrived three men assaulted him, drove on him with a horse carriage and shot him three times with his own weapon. Rogoz, October 19, 2019
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    Story: Green Gold
    Green Gold
    The mother and wife of Liviu Pop are being comforted by friends and family minutes before they say their final goodbyes. Liviu Pop was 30 years old, and he leaves a wife and three girls behind him. Over 300 people attended his funeral. Rogoz, Romania. October 19, 2019
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    Story: Green Gold
    Green Gold
    The mother and wife of Liviu Pop are being comforted by friends and family minutes before they say their final goodbyes. Liviu Pop was 30 years old, and he leaves a wife and three girls behind him. Over 300 people attended his funeral. Rogoz, Romania. October 19, 2019
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    Story: Green Gold
    Green Gold
    Illie Bucsa,35, (picrured) and his brother Dumitri, 29, reported the illegal logging to the authorities in 2019. Shortly after, 10 men with baseball bats attacked them in a forest close to their home. A few weeks before the violent assault, the two brothers experienced the mafia's methods for the first time. In the backyard fish pond, all their fish had been killed with poison. Moldovita, October 13, 2019
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    Story: Green Gold
    Green Gold
    The local activist’s Cornell Mortogan (48) and his brother Costel (58) document the illegal logging. A well-known method is to throw the roots of the tree’s deep into the forest, called ‘Wooden Graveyards’. “When I was a small child, I saw trees the size of temples. Almost 40 meters high. You don’t see that anymore. I want my children to grow up in a forest, not a desert. That’s why we fight illegal logging”, says Cornell. Near Moldovita, October 13, 2019
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    Story: Green Gold
    Green Gold
    A truck is driving down the mountainside close to the town of Borsa. The trucks have official papers on how much wood they are allowed to bring from the forest, but many of them do not comply with this. According to Greenpeace, the Romanian state loses around 1.5 billion Euros a year to illegal logging. Maramures, October 17, 2019
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    Nikon INC. MediaStorm National Geographic Missouri Photo Workshop National Press Photographers Foundation University of Missouri
    Photography at the Summit True/False Film Fest