Romania ranks first in Europe in terms of biodiversity and hosts the last 100 percent natural ecosystems on the continent, honorary ambassador of Romania's Protected Areas and Natural Parks Camelia Sucu told an event on Thursday that celebrated the European Day of Parks.

'Protected areas are a treasure not only to Romania, but also to Europe. Romania ranks first in Europe in terms of biodiversity value, and it also hosts the last 100 percent natural ecosystems on the continent. This is also the result of the existing 28 natural parks and reserves which administrations are making huge efforts to sustain and preserve this exceptional treasury amidst some problems called economic crisis. No value can be sustained only by financial efforts on the part of the Government and the people,' said Sucu.

Official data with Romania's RNP Romsilva National Forestry Administration indicate that forests in Romania cover only 26.7 percent of the country's total area, which is below the European average of 32-percent coverage.

At the same time, Romania's protected natural areas, included in Law 5/2000, cover 1.23 million hectares, or 5.18 percent of the country's total area.

Europe is celebrating the Day of Parks this on May 24 to mark the date when Sweden declared Europe's first national parks in 1909.

Romania's first national park, the Retezat National Park, was established in 1935. Currently, there are 13 national parks, 14 natural reserves and the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve in Romania.

Out of them, 12 national parks and 10 natural reserves are managed by RNP Romsilva.