The People’s Advocate notified the Commission for Exceptional Situations about the problem of illegal / unauthorized deforestation during the state of emergency and asks them to take measures to remedy the situation created in the forestry sector.

In an endeavor to the chairman of the Commission for Exceptional Situations, the Prime Minister, Ion Chicu, the People’s Advocate Office expresses its concern about the illegal deforestation that occurs during the state of emergency and the lack of actions of central and local authorities responsible for forest protection.

Mihail Cotorobai claims that, the focus of public authorities on the state of emergency has overshadowed the management of the national forestry sector in the Republic of Moldova, which depends on the state of the environment, observance of the constitutional right to a healthy environment and, ultimately, public health. The People’s Advocate considers the information published in the media is alarming, regarding the abuses and arbitrary actions of the authorities directly responsible for forest management, which directly affect the provisions of art. 59 of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova.   

The People’s Advocate recalls that the UN in Moldova and the Government have signed the Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018-2022, which focuses on a number of objectives, including environmental sustainability. In this way, the Moldovan authorities are committed to creating and implementing reliable strategies for the protection, restoration and promotion of sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainable forest management, combating desertification and stopping the degradation of forest lands and biodiversity loss.

At the same time, the state authorities were to develop a national action plan to prevent non-compliance with laws and to stop illegal deforestation, as a result of the implementation of the program Maintaining Order and Governance in Forests (MOGF), launched by the EU in the Republic of Moldova, which aimed to promote legal and sustainable methods of forest management and exploitation.

The existing legal regulations in the field of environmental protection empower the Government to be the central administrative authority responsible for the management of natural resources. Through the Agency “Moldsilva”, an authority subordinated to the executive, the Government has the obligation to fulfill the constitutional prerogatives in the fields of forestry. One of the missions of the “Moldsilva” Agency is the protection of forests and the development of forest sectors, by regenerating forests and expanding land covered with forest vegetation.

If, during the years 2006-2010, the Agency “Moldsilva” reported that “the system for keeping records of wood harvesting and illegal cutting is relatively set up”, but for 2018, this shows that forestry cutting was made on 26,8 thousand ha, and the regeneration of the forest was on an area of five times smaller – 4,9 thousand ha.

The People’s Advocate claims that these data are inversely proportional to the purpose of positive management of the forestry sector, and the actions of the authorities are irrational and can have a negative impact on the environment and on human rights and freedoms.

Mihail Cotorobai expressed the opinion that, increasing the amount of fines for illegal actions are not enough to redress the situation. The Ombudsman considers it necessary to support the authorities exercising state control over laws and other normative acts in matters of environmental protection and the use of natural resources by improving the legal framework and modernizing the legal control mechanisms, as well as, by strengthening the participatory collaboration of civil society in this context.

The People’s Advocate reiterates the opinion of UN experts on the protection of the right to a healthy environment that the state of emergency is not an excuse to postpone environmental protection.

2020 /04/ 17

Department for Promotion

of Human Rights and Communication

Tel: 060002656