3,000-4,000 hectares of forests are annually cut in Moldova annually, partially illegally. The motive of such acts is economic in character because a part of the money obtained from the illegal cutting of trees is not indicated in the accounting records. Such an opinion was stated by participants in the public debate “What do several thousands of hectares of forests prepared for cutting mean for the deforested Republic of Moldova?”, which was staged by IPN News Agency in partnership with Radio Moldova.
According to the speakers, the national forest sector is the richest part of Moldova’s property and any ecological balance derives from this sector. The forests represent the backbone of the environmental policies and of the ecological balance in Moldova. That’s why the wooded areas in Moldova must be increased, not reduced.
Minister of Environment Valeriu Munteanu said that the forest sector in Moldova values about €10 million according to the accounting documents, but another €10 million earned from stealing wood is not indicated in the financial records. “I convinced myself of this. This thing was done by schemes and very different methods, but evidently a part of the very wood used to make furniture was exported from Moldova. Nobody tried to oppose this process,” he stated. According to him, the scheme to steal wood is based on incorrect records as about half of the trees are not indicated in the records and are then cut and sold illegally. Therefore, the Ministry of the Environment stopped the tender contest to deforest over 500 hectares.
The minister noted that a draft Government decision was signed at the start of this year by which the export and re-export of unprocessed wood is banned until the end of 2020.
Aurel Lozan, national coordinator of the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument – Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Program (ENPI FLEG), said in the EU they consider that the cutting of trees is not always harmful. According to him, the use of wood is a painful problem that needs to be addressed. “There are political arrangements in the forest sector, at all the levels of management. When these are used, the frosts suffer a lot. Furthermore, the Agency “Moldsilva”, which is responsible for the forest sector, receives practically no financing from the state budget. The Agency’s budget is €10 million a year, but it can use only 2% of this sum. Is something like this normal?” asked Aurel Lozan.
The head of the Ecologist Movement of Moldova Alecu Renita said the enormous deformation in the forest sector started during the rule of Vladimir Voronin, when corrupt schemes were used and the forests were transformed into private property. “The then rulers, being unable to privatize the forests, as this was banned by the Constitution, worked out regulations concerning the leasing out of forests by which they actually legalized the sale of areas from the national forest sector for selfish purposes,” he stated. According to him, this model that started to be applied in 2001 and the other schemes should be removed so as to avoid an ecological catastrophe in Moldova.
The debate of March 2 was organized by IPN News Agency in co-production with Radio Moldova, with support from the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
