site.btaAnother 103,000 Ha of Forests to Be Proclaimed as Protected

120 ECONOMY - FORESTS - PROTECTION

Another 103,000 Ha of Forests
to Be Proclaimed
as Protected


Sofia, February 9 (BTA) - Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister
Georgi Kostov said on Monday that another 103,000 hectares of
forests will be proclaimed as protected by February 15. The
government is considering a possible moratorium on timber
exports and a revision to the Value Added Tax Act which will
abolish VAT refunds on exported unprocessed timber, Kostov said,
unveiling additional measures taken by the Agriculture and Food
Ministry to improve forest management.

The most important measure which the Ministry is planning in the
field of forest protection is to require timber sales to be
conducted under long-term contracts. Logging should be carried
out evenly, not just alongside roads and other infrastructure,
Kostov said.

The average age of Bulgarian forests is 54 years. Forests are a
renewable source, but their felling has been more intensive than
their regeneration, he said.

A total of 173 mobile teams conducted 18,833 checks in forests
in two months, but penal statements on illegal logging have
decreased. In the last four years, over 200 people have been
sentenced for illegal logging, Kostov said.

He also said that tree felling is not among the main causes for
floods. Flooding is primarily caused by clogged riverbeds,
poorly maintained infrastructure and abundant rainfall, he said.
The government was unprepared for the excessive amounts of rain
which hit the country last year and early this year. "We have
put a lot of effort into helping the victims," the Deputy
Minister said.

A report by WWF Bulgaria sets the amount of illegally harvested
timber in Bulgaria in the period from 2006 to 2013 at a quarter
of the total output (6.9 million cu m in 2012). This business
generates revenue of over 100 million leva a year for the shadow
economy. The Forestry Agency has far more modest figures:
100,000 cu m of illegally harvested timber a year.

Environmentalists say that illegal logging is done
simultaneously with the legal logging through a variety of
schemes which allow concealing the actual amount of produced and
transported timber. The problem is believed to be worst in the
Balkan Range, in Southeastern Bulgaria, the Sredna Gora mountain
range and the foot of Pirin and Rila.

A national network called For the Forests will become
operational in a matter of days to combat illegal logging, said
one of its activists, mathematics professor Mihail Konstantinov,
interviewed by Bulgarian National Television over the weekend.
A website of the same name will be launched in the coming days
to receive alerts from across the country. LI/LN/VE