Tag Archives: Government

Romanian Transport Minister wants to override nature protection legislation in favour of roads and profit

April 1, 2019, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Agent Green: Unacceptable attack on EU directives and Romanian natural heritage – during Romania’s EU-presidency

The Romanian government wants to water down national legislation in order to put profits, road-construction or resource exploitation above the conservation objectives of  protected areas such as Natura 2000 sites and national parks.

Agent Green has submitted a formal statement to the Transport Ministry which includes profound critique of this retrograde and unlawful attempt to override nature conservation legislation for profit. Today, April 1st, the deadline for amending the draft law by the Romanian government ends. The government’s legislative draft would allow road construction even in strictly protected zones within national parks and prior to the completion of any environmental impact assessment.

European legislation requires environmental impact assessments for any large plan or project (such as roads or dams) that could negatively impact the environment or human health. Furthermore, within the boundaries of EU Natura 2000 sites, appropriate assessments are mandatory in order to avoid significant deterioration or degradation of protected habitats and species. These assessments have to be based upon scientific data. Only after permission by the respective competent authorities can the plan or project begin. The new Romanian legislative proposal will allow the construction works to begin (eg.for roads) even before such environmental checks are pursued and permissions granted.

Gabriel Paun, founder of Agent Green, says the governmental initiative is “illegal and unethical”. Agent Green believes that infrastructure can be built without harming protected areas: “In the specific situations in which protected areas can not be bypassed, customized alternative solutions must be found. But modifying the law in a way to generalise the legalisation of illegal construction completely dismantles our obligations for preservation of our natural heritage. Last but not least, this is highly offensive to the public, civil society, scientists, the media and politicians who have created the current legal basis for nature conservation.“

The Romanian Minister of Transport Răzvan Cuc recently launched an attack against the basis of the nature conservation laws – as  quoted in Romanian media: “NGOs should go to other states to fight with teeth and to let us in Romania alone to make highways properly. I am the Minister of Transport, I initiate emergency ordinances that I think are appropriate to help with the implementation of the projects, to discuss with my other colleagues in the cabinet, we also take into account NGOs to say their point of view, but I will never block an infrastructure project in Romania no matter what power they think they have. If we want to make a highway we are always aware that we have bats, bears or frogs. We are talking about very important projects here such as Sibiu – Pitesti highway.” He said that he would never block an infrastructure project because of NGOs.

“This retrograde government initiative aims to dismantle EU nature protection legislation and comes in the middle of Romania’s EU presidency. This is unacceptable. The protected natural areas and the biodiversity they host represent a huge national heritage that can be underpin sustainable economic development based on ecological tourism,“ Gabriel Paun explains.

Destructive road construction in a Romanian Natura 2000 site

Here you can read a translation of the statement by Agent Green:

Regarding the Government Project for amending and the Law no. 255/2010 regarding the expropriation for public utility cause, necessary to achieve objectives of national, county and local interest, we send the following comments:

The modification of the law no. 255/2010, of article 24, is illegal and unethical.

Construction permits cannot be issued without proper documentation and therefore without legal permits. The technical and economic permits corresponding to each project phase – from technical expertise and feasibility study to execution details must be prepared and approved prior to the start of the construction and execution of the project. The modification proposed by the Government contradicts not only the legal provisions regarding the construction legislation, but also the European Directives for Habitats and Birds. The proposal has no logic. How is it possible to start a construction site/project and ask for permits after the construction is done? This is without any logic.

Also, we consider unacceptable the proposed modifications of the law 292, from 2018, regarding the environmental impact of public and private infrastructure projects.
It is not possible for transport infrastructure to be exempted from environmental impact assessment since it is known and proven that infrastructure construction works generate a significant impact on the environment. How is it possible that all of Romania’s finished infrastructure projects have been evaluated also for the enviromental impact (before the construction started) and now the government requests the cancellation of this official environmental approval phase?

With these legislative modifications, Romania risks disastrous effects on the environment and an excessive anthropogenic impact. Also, we consider that the modifications are inconsistent and break the European directives reaffirming the need for the environmental impact assessment 2011/92 / EU and 2014/52 / EU.

Also we consider unacceptable the changes of environmental protection through Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) 195/2005. If the new paragraph 17 is approved, the project infrastructure engineer can change the route of the highway/national road at any time without being forced to apply and receive the necessary environmental approval. These modifications can drastically change the permit conditions without any analysis of the construction project. It is impossible to assess the overall impact of the project on the environment and its modifications.

We also consider unacceptable the proposed changes of GEO 57/2007. These modifications breach protected area legislation, both nationally and at the European level – inside nature protected areas the priority is nature conservation, with the exception of national security and health issues.

All modifications imply that priority should change from conservation to enforcing construction projects inside protected areas.

We strongly oppose the approval of construction sites inside protected areas and buffer areas inside National and Natural Parks. Romania has vouched in front of international institutions to protect and preserve these areas according to international, European and national legislation. These modifications are breaching two European Directives on nature conservation – 79/409 / EEC and 92/43 / EEC.

With disappointment and regret we consider that all these modifications clearly demonstrate that the Romanian Government lacks vision, holds total disregard towards environmental principles and shows that the mentality of Romanian government officials in general is an obsolete one, according to which protected areas represent a break from development.

Agent Green believes that Romanian infrastructure network can develop without harming protected areas. Of course for specific and prompt situations, customised alternative solutions must be negotiated and found according to the legislation.

But we position ourselves against the modification of the law by officials who plead for generalisation, when isolated problems can be solved promptly using already existing legislation.

These modifications offend the public, the civil society, the scientists, the media and the politicians who have created the current legal basis for nature conservation and now see that all their work is thrown away.

Protected natural areas and the rich biodiversity they support represent a huge national heritage that should be the foundation of a sustainable development of Romania based on ecological tourism alongside infrastructure.

I ask you to consider the observations and criticisms we bring to these modifications and to make the right decision.

Regards,
Gabriel Paun,
Chairman Agent Green

 

The planned motorway Pitesti – Sibiu could negatively impact the Natura 2000 protected old growth forests in Olt valley

Romanian EU Presidency 2019: Eyes on Romania – and the virgin forest destruction

January 10, 2019, , , , , , , , , ,
EuroNatur and Agent Green call on Romania and EU to turn ignorance into action. Counter shows forest destruction in real time.

Romania is hosting the Presidency of the EU Council until 30th of June – for the first time since its EU accession. EuroNatur Foundation and Agent Green take this opportunity to draw international attention to the escalating logging crisis: Romania´s vast virgin and natural forest remains vanishing at a frightening speed. A counter will showcase the number of trees cut illegally during Romania´s EU presidency.

„Until today, no appropriate action has been taken to stop this dramatic loss of outstanding nature; neither by Romania nor by the EU. Therefore EuroNatur and Agent Green will put an unmissable public spotlight on the Romanian forest drama. A counter will showcase the logging disaster in numbers of trees cut illegally and actions will come along“, Gabriel Paun, president of Agent Green says.

Romania hosts an estimated 100.000 – 200.000 ha of virgin forests, the biggest share of this almost extinct ecosystem in the EU. Solid figures do not exist. In December 2018, secret kept data from Romania’s second Forest Inventory were leaked to media. These figures show a catastrophic scale of illegal logging as the annual wood cut in Romania is about 38 Mio m3, whereas legal cut (as laid down in forest management plans) is only 18 Mio m3 per year.

This means: the illegal logging volume in Romania is obviously larger than the legal one.

This is unprecedented in the EU and should be halted immediately. And logging is also happening in protected areas, such as Natura 2000 sites. EuroNatur and Agent Green will highlight this large scale breach of EU legislation with a logging counter following the Romanian EU presidency as well as civil society actions, reminding politicians and delegates that European natural heritage in Romania gets lost every minute.

Between January and June several council meetings, an EU summit and numerous other events will take place in Romania. Today, the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament and the Commissioners’ College (all EU commissioners) will visit Bucharest for the official launch ceremony and an initial meeting with the Romanian government.

The government will most likely present a bright and polished image of the country. Hopefully the presidency will also lead to increased attention on Romania’s down sides: corruption, attempts by the current government to weaken anti-mafia prosecutors – and the logging disaster.

„We will ensure that this biggest nature crisis of the EU will no longer be ignored and our actions will show that this is an important topic also for the European society“, Gabriel Schwaderer, Executive Director of EuroNatur Foundation announces. 


*** EuroNatur and Agent Green call on all European citizens to take action – and to support the petition, sign up for the newsletter and action alerts and to join the movement. More details about activities will be published soon…***

Numerous activities will remind politicians at the forest crisis in Romania. Please sign up to our newsletter – and join!

Does World Heritage Status provide protection to Romanian primeval forests?

July 26, 2017, , , , , , , ,

EuroNatur and Agent Green welcome recognition of 24,000 hectares of primeval beech forests in Romania as World Heritage

Nonetheless: Destruction of old-growth forests in Romania is most pressing problem for nature conservation in Europe

Bucharest, Radolfzell. In a ground-breaking decision, the World Heritage Committee recognized about 24,000 hectares of primeval beech forests in Romania as World Natural Heritage, including them in the list of nature sites with an “outstanding universal value”. The internationally active nature conservation foundation EuroNatur and the Romanian NGO Agent Green compliment Romania on the international recognition of this very valuable part of Europe’s natural heritage.

With this decision, the existing World Heritage Site “Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and old beech forests of Germany” was supplemented by a further 63 beech forest areas in 10 countries with a total area of more than 58,000 hectares. The serial, transnational World Heritage Site is now called “Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe” and comprises a total of 78 areas with a plain of around 92,000 hectares in 12 countries.

However, recent reports on clear-cutting in buffer zones of several World Heritage sites in Romania, which received recognition only two weeks ago, are reason for grave concern. Most seriously affected is the World Heritage site “Domogled – Valea Cernei – Iauna Craiovei”. Agent Green very recently recorded massive logging particularly in the buffer zone of Iauna Craiovei and in the nearby primeval beech forest of Cernisoara. The old-growth beech forests, which have been cut down there, were no less valuable than those inside the World Heritage sites and are also part of the national park Domogled – Valea Cernei and of a Natura 2000 nature protection area.

Prof. Dr. Hans D. Knapp, member of EuroNatur’s presiding committee, is alarmed: “Europe’s last large-scale primeval beech forests are being devastated seemingly with the government’s consent. If logging in buffer zones and areas neighbouring the World Heritage beech forests is not halted immediately, we have to expect that the beech forests of Romania and thus the entire transnational World Heritage Site will soon be on the list of World Heritage in Danger. Destruction of old-growth forests in Romania is currently the most pressing problem for nature conservation in Europe.”

EuroNatur and Agent Green therefore urgently call on the Romanian government and particularly the minister responsible for forest conservation, Doina Pana, to improve protection of the beech forest World Natural Heritage, including all buffer zones, and all other primeval forests in Romania. On paper, all primeval forests are protected in Romania by law, while in reality they are being destroyed before the government’s eyes. This is also true for state-owned forests. About two thirds of the European Union’s primeval forests are located in Romania. Thus, the country has a special responsibility for this unique European natural heritage. EuroNatur and Agent Green call for an immediate moratorium on logging in state-owned old-growth forests.

Further, it is a mystery why the Romanian government so far makes no use of the funds which are available since the beginning of this year to compensate for non-utilization of primeval and old forests. More than 60 million EUR are at hand until the end of 2020 to financially compensate private forest owners who do not exploit ecologically valuable forests. According to recent communications by the Romanian government, only 6 % of the total sum will be spent in 2017. EuroNatur and Agent Green call on the Romanian government to immediately make use of the available funds to effectively recompense private owners of primeval forests.