Effects of Climate Change
Romanian Government takes measures to combat illegal deforestation
Corina Cristea, 26.06.2020, 13:50
Climate change is affecting all regions of the world; ice caps are melting and sea and ocean levels are rising. In some regions, extreme weather and rainfall are becoming more common, while other areas are facing waves of heat and extreme drought. These are indisputable aspects of a reality at the heart of environmental activists concerns, but also of Brussels, which has set some extremely ambitious goals in this respect. Among them, reaching a zero level of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In December last year, the European Commission presented the European Green Pact – a roadmap to ensure the sustainability of the EU economy by transforming climate and environmental challenges into opportunities. The idea is to use resources effectively, by moving to a clean circular economy, thus reducing pollution, with an effect on climate change.
The weather picture in Romania has changed too: summers with higher temperatures, winters with no snow, acute lack of water in the soil, in particular in the south and south-east, where extreme weather is clearly increasing the prospect of desertification, while storms cause significant damage, hail destroys crops and floods wreak havoc. This has been the case for many years, and 2020 has been no exception. In spring, the extreme pedological drought almost completely compromised the wheat and barley crops, and now, for several days, Romania has been under yellow, orange and even red codes for extreme weather. Floods have seriously affected three quarters of Romanias counties, and have even taken human lives. In Romania, this June has been the rainiest month in the last 60 years, President Klaus Iohannis has pointed out this week, calling for a rapid change of approach, in order to be able to respond effectively to situations of such magnitude.
One first measure has already been taken. In the context in which specialists make the connection between the extreme phenomena and deforestation, the Romanian Government adopted on Thursday a normative act on the operationalization of the timber tracking system, so as to prevent illegal cutting.
The Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests, Costel Alexe said: “The new version, created from scratch, brings innovation that helps the work of combating illegal logging and transport, if need be, and, obviously, we also have the mechanisms for all those who will do that to be discovered in a timely manner and, we hope, punished; also, very importantly, it greatly simplifies the work of forestry workers in the field.”
Its important for all of us to understand that we must protect these resources, which, certainly, in the not too distant future, will protect us from such unfortunate events as Romania is going through today, the minister also said. (M.Ignatescu)
