The nature conservation organization WWF has warned that the state is preparing dangerous amendments and additions to two regulations that would give powers to uncontrolled logging in the Bulgarian forests. The controversial projects to change the Ordinance on felling in forests and to change the Ordinance on construction in forest territories were published on the public consultation portal of the Council of Ministers.
Anyone who cares about the forest can send an appeal to IAG for the cancellation of the dangerous changes in the regulations.
What do the amendments provide?
Amendments to the Ordinance on Felling / Art. 50, para. 17/ envisage conducting mass fellings to make clearings for harvesters – heavy logging machinery. The new fellings will be carried out in addition to the already planned ones. If passed, they would allow up to 17% of the forest's area, nearly a fifth, to be eligible for logging for clearings. Parallel amendments to the Ordinance on Construction in Forest Territories ensure that this 17% is reached by regulating the construction of a new type of transport roads for harvesters.
What will the amendments lead to?
If they take effect, the changes will cause:
fragmentation of forests;
increasing erosion;
damage to forest soils;
deterioration of the health of forests;
reducing the capacity of forest ecosystems to perform water protection, water purification and water retention functions.
And all this at a time when natural disasters are becoming more intense and more destructive, and forests are our most important ally in the fight against climate change.
“These amendments are clearly intended to allow massive entry of heavy machinery into the forests to increase logging. This means that the forestry systems in Bulgaria, which for the most part are adapted to the conditions of the terrain, the relief and the climate, as well as to the specifics of the forest plantations, must henceforth take into account the technical capabilities of the machines. This is absurd and a huge step backwards for forestry science in Bulgaria. As a result, the state of forests and the ecosystem services they provide will deteriorate. The most affected by this, alas, will be us – the people”, warns Neli Doncheva, head of the “Gori” program. in WWF.
Contradictions with Bulgarian and European legislation
The amendments to the Ordinance on felling, providing that the yield from felling for clearings should not be included in the permissible amount of use determined by the forestry plans and programs, directly contradicts Art. 13, para. 4 of the Law on Forests. Such a change renders forestry planning, which takes into account the condition of forests, meaningless, and threatens the practices for their sustainable management.
“Irrespective of the experts' plans, the amendments will allow up to 17% of the forest area to be cut down. And this will be done without assessing the impact of logging on the state of the forest. And these clearings, as well as the clearings for bicycle and tractor roads, essentially represent bare fellings, commented Dobromir Dobrinov, senior expert on "Nature Protection Legislation". in WWF.
In addition to a violation of national legislation, exceeding the use specified in the forestry plans and programs will also lead to a violation of the European regulation on deforestation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1115).
Damage to forest functions
The envisaged changes are contrary to the normal functions of forests and the ecosystem services they provide to people. These are: the protection of soil and water resources, the purification of the air, the maintenance of biological diversity, the provision of social, educational, scientific, landscape and recreational benefits to society, the regulation of the climate and the assimilation of carbon. Without them, our lives will no longer be the same.