New forestry regulations

The Romanian Government has changed the regulations concerning the use of timber originating from public forests.

Valentin Țigău, 04.02.2016, 13:30

Romania was once seen as a country with a great
forestry potential. Today, however, its surface area covered by forests is
below the European average. The reason is mainly the return of forests that
were abusively seized by the Communist regime and irresponsible logging carried
out in the past 25 years.

According to Greenpeace, Romania’s forests are being
cut at a rate of three hectares per hour.
In the past 10 years, over 280,000 hectares have been deforested and
degraded, out of a total of 6 million hectares of forest. The study conducted
by Greenpeace has revealed that almost half of the deforested areas are in
protected areas. What is extremely worrying is that Romania’s virgin forests,
considered among the largest in Europe, have also been affected.

Against this background, the Ministry of the
Environment, Waters and Forests and the Romsilva Forestry Authority – the
largest provider of raw material – have been called on to take urgent measures
to save Romania’s forests. In 2015 and early this year, the dramatic situation
of the Romanian forests led to street protests in Bucharest and across the country,
with thousands of people protesting against the bad management of the country’s
forests. Civil society representatives called, among other things, for an
examination of the contracts signed with three Austrian wood-processing
companies, which run in Romania over one billion Euro worth of business every
year. Because of bad legislation, many irregularities have been committed,
which have in turn led to the mere blocking of transactions on the wood market.

A first measure aimed at remedying the situation was
announced by the Environment Ministry on Wednesday. The ministry decided to
clarify the way in which the reference and starting prices for timber sold in public tenders are established. In Romania, the price of timber sold by the state has
become higher than in other European countries, and that has caused many
problems, both for the 4,400 exploitation companies and the 7,000 wood
processing companies in the country. Although the Romanian Government has
already taken some measures to address the situation, it is very likely that
the issue will keep raising questions and fierce debates in Romanian society.

(Translated by: M. Ignatescu)