A capital with big pollution problems, Bucharest is also deficient in the number of square meters of green space. And this situation actually reflects the current state of legislation in the field. For example, for several years there has been no functional register of green spaces, although in 2011 a document of this type was developed. The General Council did not vote on it, however, due to numerous methodological problems, and the fact that it does not actually provide any protection for green spaces. It is rather a consultative document, without legal value, says Victoria Carasava, project coordinator at Art Fusion, the non-governmental organization that initiated a civic petition for the urgent adoption of the Register of Green Spaces. Here is Victoria Carasava.
“We, in October, started a campaign for the urgent restoration of this register, prepared as required by law, in order to be voted on by the General Council of Bucharest and to have administrative value. From October until now, more than 5,000 Bucharest residents have signed our petition. We hope that, in the future, as many Bucharesters as possible will sign this petition and show City Hall that the lack of green spaces in Bucharest is a real problem. And, in parallel, in addition to this petition, we submitted an open letter to Bucharest City Hall (BCH), currently signed by 29 civil society organizations and local civic initiative groups. And, together, through these two approaches, the open letter and the petition, both submitted in December to the BCH, we hope to finally receive an answer from town hall and the Mayor General, in order to make this process a little more transparent and to see exactly what are the deadlines that the city hall is working with regarding the restoration of this register.
What would be the problems with the current registry, and what does civil society hope will be fixed by a new document? Victoria Carasava also answers.
“The current register did not show what is the real quantity and quality of green spaces at the level of Bucharest. Trees appeared in this register in places where they never existed. Certain premises were indexed which, by law, should not have been part of the register. In addition, there was another very serious problem. At the time this first register was made, it was not budgeted to be updated, because the Green Spaces Law tells us that this register is a dynamic tool, which inventories all the green heritage of a city and must reflect absolutely every qualitative or quantitative change occurring in these green spaces.
Unfortunately, it seems that the development of this register will take longer, because it depends on the green spaces law and the urban planning code, normative acts now under parliamentary debate for the adoption of some amendments. Some of these amendments even address the possibility that some privately owned green spaces can change their status and become functional residential areas. Which would mean a reduction of the already limited green space, several ecological organizations believe, as well as the Mayor General. Until then, however, even the Central City Hall remains on hold.