Moldovan government rules to extend forest areas at expense of degraded lands

Chisinau, 3 August /MOLDPRES/ - The forest areas will be extended in Moldova at the expense of the degraded lands. The cabinet approved a regulation to this end today, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.  

The document sees that the lands which can be afforested are the most unproductive ones, among which there are the lands with advanced erosion, the ones hit by active landslides, earth falls, sandy and saturated lands, as well as the lands polluted with chemical and oil substances. 

At the same time, the regulation establishes that the isolated degraded lands meant for afforestation should have a minimum area of five hectares, while the adjacent areas to the forest fund – an area not less than 0.25 ha. The title to the newly afforested private lands would be preserved or the lands would be conveyed to the state’s property.     

The assortment of trees and bushes for afforesting the degraded lands will be chosen depending on their capacity to resist in the soil and benefits they can bring to diminish the degree of land’s erosion. Priority will be given to highly productive and resistant Moldovan varieties.  

The afforestation works will be financed from the state budget, budgets of administrative and territorial units and from foreign sources.   

Presently, Moldova’s forest fund has a total area of 419.1 thousand hectares, which accounts for 12.7 per cent of the country’s territory.   

(Editor M. Jantovan)