Comprehensive greening campaign to be launched in Moldova

Chisinau, 5 March /MOLDPRES/ - The Moldsilva Forestry Agency this spring will organize a comprehensive campaign of planting trees, fit into the context of marking the International Day of Forests on 21 March. Also, Prime Minister Ion Chicu, in an initiative, proposed extended greening works in Moldova.    

According to the Moldsilva Agency’s director, Dumitru Cojocaru, presently there are 12 million seedlings, small and big planting materials, in nurseries of forestry enterprises. They might be planted within the greening campaign, in the conditions of financing by the State Ecological Fund.   

At the same time, Cojocaru appealed to the local public authorities, state institutions, education institutions and other organizations to establish the zones which are to be planted and to send the requests for the supply of Moldsilva’s territorial subdivisions with planting material.  

Also, silviculturists will go to schools, kindergartens and other institutions, in order to promote this campaign “of raising the civic awareness and love for the native land.” “As a result, children from pre-school institutions and schools will enjoy adjacent areas planed with trees and bushes,” Moldsilva sources said.

The decision by the Moldsilva Agency is to continue this initiative in autumn as well, “which might become a nice tradition in the long run.” “The campaign of planting trees would be a conclusive example of mobilizing the entire society, representing a solid contribution to the tendency of increasing the afforested areas, developing the biodiversity and impact for a cleaner environment in Moldova,” according to Moldsilva.     

There are more than 400,000 hectares of forests in Moldova. Most of them are managed by the Moldsilva Agency; the rest are administered by local authorities and about 3 per cent are private. Woods occupy about 13 per cent of Moldova’s area.  

The share of Moldova’s afforestation is one of the lowest in Europe. Data by the Eurostat European Statistics Office shows that forests and afforested areas in the last years have been covering more than 180 million hectares in the European Union – about 43 of the overall terrestrial area of the Union. Thus, woods occupy a slightly bigger area than the one meant for agriculture (41 per cent). The most extended zones of forests are in Sweden, Spain and Finland.     

The International Day of Forests has been yearly marked on 21 March starting from 2012, under a decision by the United Nations Organization.