Premium
WWF Romania representatives ask President Klaus Iohannis to not sign the Forestry Code bill into law, arguing that it doesn't solve the deeply ingrained problem of illegal logging.
"The bill amending the Forestry Code, which cleared Parliament last week, does not solve the problem of combating illegal logging. It is a mere window dressing, not a real reform of the national forestry policies, and includes elements that will make it difficult to solve the infringement procedure opened by the European Commission against Romania for failure to properly combat illegal wood harvesting. For this reason we sent yesterday (on Wednesday, ed. no.) President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, an open letter asking him not to promulgate the bill and send it back to Parliament," WWF Romania said in a release on Thursday.
According to the cited source, the unanimously adopted bill falls short of bringing about the essential changes requested by the society, the academia and a series of professional associations on how Romania should capitalize on timber and protect its forests.
"It is a bill that betrays the populism of the entire political class in the face of elections, the lack of vision and will to truly reform this sector. Although it was heralded about as a lifeline to getting out of the infringement procedure, the current version denies again the orientation of control towards the first point where the wood enters the market, as required by European principles," said Radu Vlad, WWF Romania coordinator of regional forestry projects.
