As many as 700 hectares of wooded strips were rehabilitated in southern Moldova in 2015. The works were performed by the Forestry Agency “Moldsilva”. Another 5,700 hectares are yet to be rehabilitated, IPN reports.

The wooded strips are restored with the aim of ensuring protection from winds and erosion and of maintaining soil moisture on an area of about 20,000 ha of farmland in the southern districts. The measures form part of the series of activities carried out by “Moldsilva” in cooperation with the World Bank-funded Moldova Agricultural Competitiveness Project (MAC-P), the component “Support for the Rehabilitation of Wooded Protection Strips”.

The cooperation is aimed at rehabilitating, by 2017, 2,200 ha of wooded strips in southern Moldova, where the quality of soil decreased significantly following massive degradation.

According to the data provided by “Moldsilva” Agency, 5,700 ha of wooded strips need to be rehabilitated in southern Moldova overall.