site.btaEnvironmentalists Urge for Additional Measures to Protect Bulgarian Forests

Environmentalists Urge for Additional Measures to Protect  Bulgarian Forests

Sofia, August 19 (BTA) - Notwithstanding the efforts of the
Agriculture and Food Ministry, the passed amendments to the
Forests Act will have only a limited effect unless additional
legislative measures are taken against the wide-spread
corruption in the forestry sector, the For the Nature
environmental association said in a press release Wednesday.
Experts of the association have analysed the effectiveness of
the amendments intended to protect forests.

The environmentalists said that about a third of the nearly 40
amendments directly concern the problem of large-scale tree
cutting and poaching in forests. The amendments also reflect
proposals made by For the Nature association for more publicity
and better control in respect of cutting and carriage of timber.

The environmentalists urged for additional measures to eliminate
 the problem of insufficient financial resources and
independence of the forestry control bodies, the problem with
the fuzzy responsibility of the actors in the process of timber
production and the ineffective administration of justice. Such
measures have already been proposed for discussion by
magistrates, forestry experts and environmentalists, which
enables the State to finish off the forestry reform before the
problems in the sector aggravate, the press release says.