The felling of trees for obtaining wood will be under a three-year moratorium. The relevant decision adopted by Parliament on April 23 is aimed at stopping the illegal cutting down of trees and at conserving the exhaustible natural resources, IPN reports.

The bill authors said the wooded areas should be restored so as to ensure each person’s right to an ecological and healthy environment. Only sanitation works will be allowed and also works to prevent or alleviate the consequences of natural disasters, catastrophes and technogenic accidents, in exceptional cases, as well as works to solve state security issues, to build special purpose facilities, such as national roads, high-voltage electricity transmission lines, gas pipelines.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, illegal tree felling is a chronic problem inherited many years ago. As a result of inspections carried out at the end of last May, there were identified 45% of illegal works on the first inspection and 22% on the second inspection.