The government has an obligation to support afforestation and reforestation projects, considering that every year it spends billions of euros for health care, and pollution is also a cause for people getting sick, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Monday, as he signed the Memorandum for the creation of the Bucharest-Ilfov Green Belt at an event organized in the run-up to the celebration of Environment Day.

„It is obviously a civic initiative that has my backing, and today I think this is the last signature, mine, the we place on the document. I am very glad that this was not subject to a political dispute, as it was an across-the-aisle initiative all political parties agreed to. (.. .) We are not reinventing hot water, all the big European capital cities have a green belt which acts as a buffer, as an oxygen mask for the city. It is obvious that pollution kills, but whereas in the case of killer corruption we get to see the corrupt on TV, or we get to see them freely walk the streets, we get to know them, pollution, on the other hand, is an invisible killer,” Ciolacu said.

He congratulated climber Alex Glavan, geologist Florin Stoican and environmental engineer Daniel Sardan for founding the civic platform Together for the Green Belt.

Ciolacu emphasized the importance of implementing NRRP-funded environmental projects, including those related to afforestation.

„(…) What I particularly like about this project is that it does not come from a government authority, but is a citizens’ initiative,” explained the prime minister.

Asked what surface would be put under forest, he said that the Public Estate Agency is considering about 300,000 hectares for this plan. He added that 75 percent of the goals Romania pledged to for joining the OECD refer to environmental issues.

In his turn, Alex Glavan pointed out that this is an apolitical initiative and the Bucharest-Ilfov Green Belt is also a public health project, and explained that pillar II of the project will be represented by new afforestation and reforestation activities, while pillar III deals with opening the forest to people.

„When we want to go somewhere in nature, we, Bucharesters tend to head for Prahova Valley or the seaside, or perhaps even travel abroad, but very few of us are aware that Bucharest is surrounded by an absolutely fantastic natural oasis,” Alex Glavan said. AGERPRES