“Cancer” in the lungs of cities
Agent Green warns that abusive logging in the last forests around major cities affects residents’ quality of life and biodiversity. This is also the case for the forests near Iași, which, although designated as protected areas of European interest, can be logged across 99% of their area at Romsilva’s request and with the Ministry of the Environment’s approval. Residents are outraged and call for strict protection of forests within a radius of 10 km from the edge of the city and partial protection beyond that limit.
VIEW, SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION
WATCH THE VIDEO REPORT
VIDEO DOWNLOAD LINK FOR THE PRESS – FREE DISTRIBUTION WITH SOURCE CREDIT
The health impact of pollution in Romania’s major cities is compounded by abusive logging in the last patches of forest remaining around them. Even the last trees of monumental size are being cut down. One by one, each plot is cleared and progressively turned into scrub under the label of regenerated forest, leaving the country’s cities without lungs. But old trees are not sick and do not need replacing. They produce the most oxygen, protect soil and water, absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere, provide shelter and food for many living creatures and regulate the climate. At present, the forest’s social, recreational and ecological functions are disregarded entirely. Even in forests within Natura 2000 protected areas, no more than 1% of their area is strictly protected. The sole source of oxygen and local climate stabilisation is disappearing day by day. Along with these forests, living creatures disappear, including songbirds. We are also at the bottom of Europe’s rankings for green space per inhabitant within cities.
Consequently, residents’ quality of life and forests’ potential to counter climatic, hydrological and geomorphological hazards have declined significantly, and biodiversity has been affected. Each year, 20,755 people residing in Romania die because of pollution, including 15,126 because of air pollution, according to the latest report by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution.
At present, only 1% of the approximately 13,000 hectares of protected areas in Codrii Iașilor are safe from logging. The remaining 99% can be logged. The last plots of centuries-old forest with an average age of 120–160 years are being cut down. Romsilva and the Ministry of the Environment have approved the logging of more than 750,000 cubic metres of timber for the current decade without appropriate and strategic assessment studies. In the absence of these mandatory assessments, the European Commission has launched infringement proceedings against Romania, procedures that are set to lead to severe penalties to be determined by the European Court of Justice during this year.
“We are talking about a protected area of which only 1% is truly protected. It is a national disgrace. We ask the Ministry of the Environment to expand the strictly protected area 10 km around the city and to at least 50% of the total protected-area surface, and to establish a new nature park here,” said Veronica Tulpan, Agent Green’s campaigns coordinator.
The area was designated a site of Community importance by Order No. 1964 of the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development of 13 December 2007 as an integral part of the European ecological network Natura 2000 in Romania for habitats and birds. It is a natural area (deciduous forests, transitional forests, pastures, meadows, arable land and streams tributary to the Bârlad valley) within the continental bioregion of the Central Moldavian Plateau, which shelters and conserves a diverse range of spontaneous flora and wildlife. The natural area has two types of natural habitat (Asperulo-Fagetum beech forests and Dacian oak and hornbeam forests) that provide food and living conditions for several species of small mammals, birds and insects and protect rare floral elements.
