Romania has all the arguments to become the advocate of European forests, because we have communities and organizations involved, but also a public system that is more or less in place, said the Vice President of the European Parliament, Victor Negrescu, at a specialized event on Monday.
„Forests are a natural resource, they are a central element for economic development, but they are the foundation of our health, our resilience, our ecological security, but also of prosperity for future generations. They are not abstract concepts, but are essential elements in the debate currently taking place at European level and we must highlight these aspects. You know better than I, as specialists in the field, that the European Union has over 160 million hectares of forests, representing a good part of global biodiversity and that forests generate over 2.6 million jobs (…) At the same time, we cannot ignore the significant impact that forests have on the sustainable development of many European communities and especially of rural areas. At the same time, we must be clear, we cannot exaggerate, we must look at the realities (…) It is important to underline that only „2.4% of our forests are in an unaffected natural state, and 85% of protected forests are, unfortunately, in a state of conservation (…) Romania has all the arguments to become the advocate of European forests and in this sense we have involved communities, involved organizations and a more or less sketched out public system,” Negrescu pointed out.
According to him, one of the opportunities of the moment would be the creation of a European Fund dedicated to reforestation and restoration of existing forests.
„It is very good that in the PNRR there are consistent investments in the afforestation area. What is important is how we achieve this target at European level. Starting from these results, it is important to see what we do from now on. I think it may be an opportunity for us to support the creation of a European Fund strictly dedicated to reforestation and restoration of degraded forests. Another proposal that I know you care about would be the introduction of payments for ecosystem services, to reward forest owners who contribute to biodiversity conservation, carbon absorption, with the support of local and regional authorities through financial instruments dedicated to sustainable forest management. The future Cohesion Policy will be very important here. In the current proposal made by the European Commission, there are no more funds dedicated to rural development and, consequently, it will be appropriate to see where we can find additional amounts. Another proposal: the creation of a European early warning system and rapid intervention to prevent and combat forest fires,” the MEP mentioned.
In Negrescu’s vision, „we can invest intelligently in forests, because in this way we invest in our future.”
„I sincerely believe that forests are linked to and are a determining factor for our sustainable, prosperous and resilient future. Again, I am using key words that are essential in the current debate at the European level. Forests are also essential for our security, another essential concept in the current debate at the European level,” said Victor Negrescu.
A consortium formed by the Transilvania University of Brasov – Faculty of Forestry and Forestry, WWF Romania, ASFOR, the Association of Protected Natural Areas Administrators in Romania (ANANP), the Association of Forest Owners and Administrators in Eastern Transylvania (APAPET), the Association of Forest Administrators in Romania (AAP) and the Association of Furniture Manufacturers in Romania (APMR) is organizing, on Monday, the specialized conference with the theme „Forests – central pillar of the future of green investments in Europe”.
AGERPRES
