Moldovan parliament, cabinet monitor situation in forestry sector

Chisinau, 17 July /MOLDPRES/ - The amendment of the Forestry Code, tough sanctioning of the illicit tree felling, removal of criminal schemes from Moldova’s forestry system were some of the subjects tackled by MP Liviu Vovc at a news briefing held at the parliament’s headquarters today.    

The lawmaker noted that, on the last period, he had received “hundreds of appeals and information on what is happening in the forestry sector.” “There are problems as to the number of inspectors, forestry legislation, which is needed to be improved. A new Forestry Code was worked last year, which is much better than the previous one and settles certain problems; yet, the Code has not been improved till the end and is presently in ministries for approval. We will insist that this document enters into force as soon as possible, in order to be able to start all verifications at the local level,” Liviu Vovc said.

In the context, the MP nominated several cases of infringements in the sector, discovered following controls, initiated at his request. “At the Bobeica forestry farm of the Hancesti-Silva forestry enterprise, 107 oak-tree stumps, remained from illegally cut trees, were detected in a single forest range alone. If we had a tougher Forestry Code, then the fines for these tree fellings would exceed 700,000 lei and would not be 26,000 lei, as it is at present. In the forest range from the Padurea Domneasca (Princely Wood) nature reserve, following verification, a large quantity of industrial wood, recorded as fire-wood in acts, was identified,” Vovc said, stressing that the price difference between these two categories of wood is of 500-1,000 lei per one cubic metre.      

At the same time, the lawmaker referred to the situation in the Chisinau forestry farm. He voiced hope that the competent institutions “will be vigilant and will unmask all criminal schemes carried out on this sector.”

The MP of the Dignity and Truth Platform Party called on all decision-makers from the forestry sector to carry out, in the third and fourth quarters, tree fellings in line with the legislation and in strict accordance with the accounting documents. At the same time, Liviu Vovc asked the leaders of the Moldsilva Forestry Agency not to get involved in the work of the inspectors and not to try to hush up cases of infringement of the forestry legislation. The MP encouraged the employees of this field to come up “with self-denunciations, in order to ease the process of calling to account of those who were organizing and protecting the criminal schemes from the forestry sector.”    

In late last June, Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Minister Georgeta Mincu said that she had received “notifications on behalf of citizens reading that illicit tree fellings take place in forestry farms from the districts of Ialoveni, Hancesti, Straseni and surpluses of wood, which is subsequently illegally sold, are discovered following inventorying.”    

“We will pay unforeseen visits to all forestry farms, along with the monitoring and control bodies, including official examiners and those who do not observe the law will be punished according to the norms in force,” the minister said.     

Official data shows that, in 2018, the forestry fund and the forestry vegetation out of this fund accounted for 13.7 per cent of Moldova’s area – 462.7 thousands hectares. The forest fund has an area of 419.2 thousand hectares, of which 374.8 thousand hectares of woods (0.086 ha of wood per inhabitant). The areas covered with state-owned woods accounted for 87.2 per cent, the ones owned by the local public administration – 12.2 per cent and private owners have 0.6 per cent.