„We don’t have time, we have to change the country.“
This was said during today’s negotiations in the „Agriculture“ sector by the executive director of the Executive Forest Agency Alexander Dunchev from „We continue the change“. He commented: more:
„It is important to find out if we can save Bulgarian forests and get the logging sector back on its feet, for inequality to disappear and for people to know that entering the forest is not just for profit.“
Dunchev stressed that in today’s analysis, they have 95% overlap of the policies of individual parties. He pointed out that at the suggestion of Prof. Bozukov, the Forest Agency has made a functional analysis of the law of forests and forest policies – swaps, timber exports, forest control. The Executive Director specified:
„The last reform was made in 2011, during which the forestry was stabilized economically. However, this was at the expense of some of the rulers who were there for personal gain and the circles around them. They have contributed to the plundering and denigration of the forest system, which exposes abuses every year. These negative changes were on the extraction of profits from logging. Most of the small companies were crushed at the expense of the big ones, who were under political protection, in order to make maximum profits from the forests.“
Alexander Dunchev pointed out that a large part of the private forests have been cut down without the knowledge of their owners. According to him, all this shows that forest management is so important for the whole Bulgarian society and added:
„Forest protection is an environmental cause за1 for Bulgaria. This means that forest management must be independent of the Ministry of Agriculture, because it speculates. We saw how the appointments were on a political line and the hands of the MRF and GERB parties always stood out.“
The Executive Director noted that the unity and independence of the forest system as a separate Ministry of Forestry or as an ongoing one needs to be restored. He pointed out that Bulgaria also needa a Minister of Climate to answer the pressing issues of climate change. Dunchev is adamant that our forests should be perceived as the natural heritage of Bulgaria, because our country has centuries-old forest areas. He explained:
„Our advantage over the whole of Europe is our well-preserved nature. It’s thanks to the vigilant people who control the irregularities in the forests.“
According to the expert, almost nowhere in Bulgaria are there marked mountain eco-trails, almost no roads for cyclists and tourists. For this he suggested:
„The Forest Agency should be a separate state structure, to increase the transparency of forest management and the separation of logging from trade. The woodcutter is punished, but 99% of the time someone made him do it. We started looking for responsibility from mayors, forest managers and logging companies, because in most cases they close their eyes.“
Dunchev clarified that the Ministry of Finance will allocate about one million levs in order to be able to work in various areas for protection and preservation of forests.
