The exploitation of mineral resources causes damage to the environmental at all the stages of this process and the unfavorable consequences of mining are often felt during a long period of time, even after the closure of a mine or a quarry. The inhabitants of villages and towns where mining is practiced are the worst affected as they have to drink water and breathe in polluted air, face landslides and houses fissures, while the roads and farmland are destroyed, said experts invited to a news conference staged by the Independent Think Tank “Expert-Grup”, IPN reports.

The extractive industry’s contribution to Moldova’s economy is of about 0.2%, but the damage caused to the environment comes to tens of millions of lei a year. “The annual value of the damage caused to the environment, calculated by the Labor Protection Inspectorate, exceeds 80 million lei. This is the value of the damage caused only by legal extractions, without taking into account the illegal quarries,” said Tatiana Savva, program director at “Expert-Grup”. According to her, the damage consists in air and water pollution, losses of image and infrastructure whose value is also not calculated.

A large part of the mining activities are performed in picturesque places in Moldova and these are also affected by the exploitation of mineral resources. These are: Emil Racoviță Cave in Criva village of Briceni district; the Defile in Fetești, Edineț; the Defile in Duruitoarea Veche, Râșcani, and others.

“Emil Racoviță Cave, which forms part of the top caves with an exceptional value in Europe, is affected by the explosions staged there, while in Criva village, there is practically no house that would not be cracked,” stated Alecu Reniță, president of the Public Association “Ecologist Movement of Moldova”.

“In fact, these should be prosperous localities if their enormous tourist potential is realized, not destroyed by explosion,” said Lilia Curchi, coordinator of Working Group No. 3 of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum.

Moldova’s legislation that regulates quarrying is outdated and does not meet the current requirements imposed by the neighboring states. “The Subsoil Code should be fundamentally reviewed. We call on the central public authorities to cooperate with representative of the local authorities, civil society and environmental authorities so as to reach that consensus for reviewing the set of documents so that we do not suffer environmental and economic losses as a result of the damage caused to the environment,” noted Rodica Iordanov, head of the public association “EcoContact”.

The news conference was organized by “Expert-Grup” and Working Group No. 3 of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum with support from the Soros Foundation Moldova.