Romanian senators vote to protect forests around Bucharest

The bill amending the Forest Code so as to put the entire forest vegetation of Ilfov county under protection passed a critical vote in the Romanian Senate on Monday, June 26. Ilfov is the county surrounding Bucharest, and thus the legislation is the keystone for a future green belt around the capital city. With only 16% wooded area, Ilfov is considered an "area with a deficit of forest vegetation."

Introduced on April 12 as part of the civic platform Together for the Green Belt, the draft law was adopted by the Senate with 105 votes in favour out of 106 senators present at the debates. Only one lawmaker chose not to vote at all.

The legislation will now go to the Chamber of Deputies, which will most likely give a final vote in the next parliamentary session after the summer break. To come into force, the bill will also have to be signed into law by president Klaus Iohannis.

According to its initiators, passing this law will be "the starting point of a project to create green belts in the rest of the country as well."

"The Bucharest-Ilfov Green Belt is a project that if not treated with maximum priority and seriousness now, the future will impose it on us anyway, at a heavy health, economic, ecological and ethical cost," reads the press release.

The Together for the Green Belt civic platform was launched at the initiative of high altitude climber and conservationist Alex Găvan and Florin Stoican, president of the Kogayon and Văcărești Natural Park associations. A project of the Alex Găvan Foundation, it has also been backed by numerous NGOs, civic groups and public figures, such as WWF, Greenpeace, Fauna & Flora International, Kogayon Association, Codrii Vlăsiei Civic Initiative Group, Social Innovation Solutions, Impact Hub Bucharest, and the Bucharest Community Foundation.

Commenting on Monday's vote in the Senate, Alex Găvan said: "The Bucharest-Ilfov Green Belt needs committed supporters to make it a reality. And that means "opening the eyes" of all relevant decision-makers, current or potential, regardless of the party they belong to, and their deep understanding of the fact that they must join hands for clean air and the future. Today, it was unanimity in the Senate. All parties voted for it. I bow and thank them all. The residents of Bucharest and Ilfov are now waiting for a positive vote from the Chamber of Deputies."

In his turn, Florin Stoican stated: "Peri-urban forests bring enormous benefits to us all. This law will allow for their conservation, public access to benefit from their multiple services, and intervention for ecological reconstruction where and when appropriate. The Green Belt initiative thus also has the role of bringing together all the actors, from civil society to the political-administrative environment, from academic and research to business."