After the leader of the Party of Socialists Igor Dodon recently accused President Maia Sandu of having had secret discussions with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and of taking steps that could cause an ecological disaster on the Nistru, the Socialist MPs proposed a draft decision to constitute a special parliamentary commission that would assess the integrated water resources management in the Nistru River Basin, IPN reports.

“As regards the main source of water of the country, we note that this aquatic resource is going through the most difficult times and is exposed to unprecedented dangers. Namely, the hydrological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological regimes deteriorated, the river’s self-cleansing capacity decreased, a number of valuable species of fish (chub, nase, perch, catfish, barbell, sturgeon, etc.) disappeared, the river and the barrage lake in Dubăsari became mudded, the level of water is low and sometimes decreases to the riverbed,” the Socialist MPs noted in the informative note to the bill.

According to them, the Republic of Moldova is already in a critical state as regard the access to water and sustainable economic development and the given aspect has been also signaled by the UNDP Office in Chisinau. “Given the latest climate change, the insufficiency of water for irrigation can compromise the given sector of the national economy, while the food security could be endangered.”

According to the Socialist MPs, the special parliamentary commission would assess the potential of the Nistru River and would examine the relations of transfrontier cooperation in the sustainable use of the natural resources in the Nistru River Basin, which would equitably satisfy the necessities of the current and future generations, and would also consolidate the institutional and organizational framework needed to viably develop and protect the river’s basin so as to ensure the country’s food security.