Iohannis: Find tools to protect forests. PSD has been doing this for a long time without success

Iohannis said the new trees planting campaign will leave deep positive traces.

"The forest must be protected! It is inadmissible that we have massive illegal cuts in the 21st century! And I ask the prime minister and the members of the Government present here to find new tools to protect Romania's forests. The tools that were created and used in the days of previous governments, and for a long time PSD has been doing this without success, those tools have proven to be insufficient and insufficiently applied. So protection is needed. It is necessary, on the other hand, where there are forests that have been conceived for exploitation, to be exploited but, carefully, in an organized and legal way. A separate forest or a set of separate forests are protected areas. Romania is among the very few countries in Europe that still has virgin forests, which has forests that must be kept, protected. And there is also a very important category of forests, those that we will now start to plant", the president said.

Iohannis spoke about the need for forests, given the environmental issues.

"You know very well, in the last days, there has been a lot of discussion about the strong pollution, which can be found everywhere in Romania. It is known that forests are not only good for walkings or giving wood. Forests are very important to give clean air. The forests clean the air. Forests contribute to a healthier, cleaner environment. On the other hand, we must be very aware that the climate problem is a serious one. Global warming is a fact and for us it can be a very negative fact, especially here, in the south of the country, there is a danger of desert areas being formed. And this, of course, we do not want", said Iohannis.

According to the president, all recent studies have shown that the most effective measure against climate warming is planting forests.

"Therefore, if we want to be serious, if we want to combat global warming, then tree planting has many benefits, including in this area of climate change prevention. Here are several benefits if we plant, and here I have to say something: in my opinion, it is insufficient to replant, to restore the forest in areas where it was cut legally or illegally. We need to grow the forested area in Romania significantly and this campaign is a very good start and I hope it will be a symbol and an encouragement for many local authorities, who can use the land that is no longer used for anything else in agriculture. And I very much hope that in the coming years we will have a significant expansion of the forested areas in Romania. So, on the one hand protection, the elimination of illegal logging, on the other hand, massive plantations of forest", the president added.

The planting action took place on Friday in Dâmboviţa county.

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