The Eco-TIRAS International Association of River Keepers and the Czech NGO “Arnika” staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment and the Ministry of Finance against the lack of long-term financing for the Moldovan natural reserves, IPN reports.



“It seems that the natural reserves should cut down and sell the protected wood so as to pay salaries to their employees. We asked to take this moment into account when drafting the 2022 state budget. Secretary of state Valentina Țapeș came out to talk to the protesters and actually supported these demands. The representative of the Ministry of Finance didn’t come out,” said the executive director of Eco-TIRAS Ilya Trombitski.



According to the Ministry, secretary of state Valentina Țapeș met with the group of civic activists who came to the Ministry to ask for increased attention to the problems of biodiversity and conservation of this by the distribution of financial resources for supporting the area.



In response to the request of those attending to restore budget funding for natural reserves, the secretary of state said the Ministry welcomes civil society’s interest in sensitizing the authorities and institutions responsible for supporting biodiversity and continues to work out and improve the policies in the field. It plans financing for scientific reserves, national parks, biosphere reserves, etc. This year, owing to the pandemic, the financial resources were limited and were redirected. The Ministry will continue to insist on the financing of the sector.