Amendments to the new Forestry Code bill that aim to protect the forests of Ilfov county against commercial logging got the green light from expert committees of the Senate. Safeguarding these forests would be the starting point for creating the Bucharest-Ilfov Green Belt as a solution to the worrying pollution levels in the Romanian capital. With only 16% wooded area, Ilfov is considered an "area with a deficit of forest vegetation."

The Green Belt legislative project was initially submitted to the Parliament a year ago, on April 12, 2023, in the form of a draft law, but got stuck in debates at the Chamber of Deputies after being unanimously voted by the Senate. Thus, as the new Forestry Code began its legislative process this month, the initiators of the Together for the Green Belt/Împreună pentru Centura Verde civic platform decided to also submit their initial legislation's text as amendments to the new Code.

Backed by the Environment Ministry and some MPs from across the political spectrum, including USR, PNL, PSD, REPER, and UDMR, the proposed Green Belt amendments received a unanimous vote from the Senate's joint environment and forest committees on Tuesday, April 23. 

The same happened for other equally essential amendments supported by the Together for the Green Belt civic platform. These promote free and unrestricted access to the forest for recreation and the protection and conservation of the so-called remarkable trees (old trees with multiple social-ecological functions) from the National Forestry Fund.

Next, the Forestry Code legislation will go to the Senate plenary before moving forward to the Chamber of Deputies for final debates and vote.

"Forests around cities mean much more than timber or the value of wood in money. Infinitely more. The forest means oxygen. It means life. The forest means health, including mental health. It means therapy and healing for a society increasingly alienated by the loss of connection and the abandonment of people forming it. The forest is togetherness. The forest is love," said Alex Găvan, founder of the Together for the Green Belt civic platform. 

In the context of the 2024 super-electoral year in Romania, the initiators also note that air quality and the creation of green belts in peri-urban areas must not be absent from the program of "any serious political party and any serious candidate" and, at the same time, from the "personal assessment that each responsible voter makes."

Together for the Green Belt is a multileveled civic initiative joined by more than 150 local non-profits, civic groups, and public figures, and supported by the Presidential Administration, launched with the aim of offering concrete solutions to combat the worrying pollution in Bucharest and creating a much needed Green Belt around the capital city. As its initiators say, it is a public health project with a strong social, environmental, anti-pollution component, and climate change mitigation.  

One of its pillars is a seven-point memorandum of understanding, which includes the Forestry Code amendments on protecting the forests in Ilfov county and other solutions for a healthier environment in the capital city and beyond. Several high-ranking political and executive decision-makers from all relevant parties have backed the memorandum. In fact, the initiators say that the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) has remained the only political force yet to support the project openly by signature, and invite prime minister Marcel Ciolacu to sign the document. 

The civic platform also includes an online petition that gathered more than 11,900 signatures so far and still awaits public support here. Further details about the initiative are available here (in Romanian). 

Together for the Green Belt is a project of the Alex Găvan Foundation, a local non-profit carrying out projects in the fields of environment, education, sports, arts, and social causes. The platform's initiators are Alex Găvan, high-altitude climber and conservationist, and Florin Stoican, president of the associations Kogayon and the Urban Nature Network.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Alex Găvan/Centuraverde.ro)