The much-needed reform of Romsilva risks doing more harm than good if the authorities approve the draft law transforming the public forest administration into one or more commercial companies, WWF Romania warns in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Thursday, write Agerpres.
„Instead of reducing the influence of politics and increasing the level of professionalism of the management, it [the draft law – ed . n.] puts the maximization of company profits in the foreground, without taking into account the public interest related to non-commercial, environmental or social aspects. Romsilva can be depoliticised without changing its status. Citing the need to improve the performance of public enterprises and their financial results, the authorities are preparing a new draft law to transform the public forest administration into one or more commercial companies. But this has the potential to hijack the long-awaited reform of RNP Romsilva, without creating real conditions for reducing political interference or increasing the level of professionalism in public companies,” environmental activists say.
According to the experts, Romsilva’s depoliticisation can be done without changing its status from a National Public Service to a joint-stock company (SA) or limited liability company (SRL).
„The piece of legislation risks making it impossible to implement the strategic directions assumed by Romania through the 2030 National Forest Strategy, especially in terms of the legitimate expectations of society regarding the maintenance and improvement of ecosystem services, but also the superior local harnessing and processing of forest resources from public property,” the press release states.
The National Forest Administration – Romsilva manages 3.13 million hectares of state-owned forests, about 48 percent of the country’s forests, and provides forestry services for about one million hectares of forests under other forms of ownership. Romsilva also administers 22 national and state parks and 12 state herds.
Of the total number of state-owned forests, 80 percent have forest management certification to international standards.
