Commercial logging will be banned in Ilfov County, and within two years, Ilfov County Council, in partnership with the Capital City Hall, will have to adopt a forest management plan for the area, the Civic Platform Together for the Green Belt said on Tuesday.

The statements are made in the context of the adoption of the new Forestry Code by Parliament and its promulgation by President Klaus Iohannis.

"Through this recently enacted law, the Civic Platform Together for the Green Belt has included a series of provisions that protect all the forests in Ilfov [County], which become the cornerstone of the future green belt of the Capital, and the establishment of green belts at national level has become a reality. An essential step towards having more climate resilient cities, less polluted and, implicitly, healthier and happier people," emphasizes a press release issued by the civic platform.

According to the cited source, among the most important provisions of the new Forestry Code are: the prohibition of any commercial logging in Ilfov County. Only contracts already in progress will be finalized, with a deadline for completion in the spring of 2025. Only the normal cutting of trees will be allowed, aimed at forest care, regeneration or ecological restoration. Owners will also be compensated on request.

"Within two years, the Ilfov County Council, in partnership with the General City Hall of Bucharest, shall adopt the Ilfov Forest Management Plan. Within two years, the Ministry of Environment is to issue the methodology for the creation of green belts around the cities of the country. Within two years, commercial logging identified as peri-urban (such as Trivale, near Pitesti, Barnova, near Iasi or Hoia, near Cluj-Napoca), urban (including the part of Baneasa Forest that belongs to Bucharest) or mini-urban forests throughout the country will be stopped, as they will be part of the future green belts," the press release reads.

Unrestricted access will be allowed in any forest, for recreation, by bicycle, the unrestricted pedestrian access, also for recreation, having already been included in the Senate with already wide acceptance. Other provisions aim to protect remarkable trees in the forest and to include the concept of green belts in Romanian forestry.

"Through their systemic impact, green belts redefine the role and importance that peri-urban forests play in the lives of millions of people in this country. Green belts are a project for generations. A gift from our generation to the generations to come and, at the same time, a moral duty that we have to leave them a country in which they will love to live," said Alex Gavan, founder of the Civic Platform Together for the Green Belt.

The platform gathers the support of more than 150 non-governmental organizations, civic groups and public individuals. It is also backed by the Presidential Administration.

"Bucharest is the second most polluted capital in the EU and has the highest social cost caused by pollution in the entire Union, with an annual loss of 6.35 billion EUR. According to the official conclusion of a 2020 report by the National Institute of Public Health, if the authorities were to fulfill the commitments already made to combat pollution, Bucharest's inhabitants could have a life expectancy four years longer. After years and years of warnings, Romania is under infringement proceedings and has also been condemned by the EU Court of Justice for the toxic air in Bucharest and many other cities. (...) With only 16% forested area (about 26,000 hectares), Ilfov [County] is considered, according to the Forestry Code, an 'area with a deficit in forest cover'," highlight the cited press release.AGERPRES (RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Simona Iacob)