Flyer Action



The issue


About 20 million cubic meters of Romanian timber are illegally harvested every year. With the help of corrupt structures, timber is channeled into the legal economy and sold to large foreign corporations (IKEA being one of them). Romania has signed investment contracts with Austrian companies, which are now threatening with legal action if laws favorable to them are changed. Public officials are bribed and the Romanian Minister of Forestry was poisoned and forced out of office. Six journalists and foresters have been murdered in recent years, and over 650 incidents have been reported, ranging from assault and death threats to property damage. National parks and Old-Growth forests are fast disappearing, small logging companies are making only small profits and the country of Romania is losing billions, while international corporations are earning vast sums.

Read the full research here: Illegal logging in Romania.


The action


  • Download the flyer here or contact us and help translate it into your own language. We will send it to you ASAP;
  • Print the flyer in as many copies as you wish/can (A5, black and white);
  • Call a friend;
  • Bring the flyers to your nearby IKEA;
  • Take a photo with the flyer in front of the IKEA facade. Send us the picture at act_against [@] riseup [.] net
  • Place the flyers inside the store (in cupboards, on shelves, under blankets... Get creative!);
  • Do this every first Saturday of the month. Let’s begin a movement: Saturdays for Forests. You can, of course, do it on any day that fits you!


The goals

step by step

  1. IKEA needs to publish a map containing both the forests they own in Romania and all the other protected areas in the country (Old-Growth forests and national parks);
  2. IKEA needs to financially support research institutes that analyse the damage that has been caused since they came to Romania;
  3. IKEA needs to invest a part of their (huge) revenues in sustainable reforestation projects, to monitor them and to make sure that they succeed;
  4. IKEA needs to change their business plan and to stop producing single use furniture. A very simple solution for their wooden pieces would be to add a metal screw-in thread. In this way, customers would be able to take them apart and reassemble the goods many times. Many other solutions are available, and we need to convince IKEA to put them into practice.