Expert-Grup Welcomes the Ministry of Environment's Initiative to Ban the Leasing of Forests

The 2013 study, published with the support of the Soros Foundation Moldova, recommended “stopping the practice of leasing, taking action to terminate lease contracts for recreation purposes and reviewing contracts leasing forest land for hunting management”.

Expert-Grup also urges the authorities to take all necessary measures so that current leaseholders remove all constructions and halt activities that harm the forest ecosystem. It further repeats its call for urgent reforms in the forestry sector. The main priorities are separating policy and regulatory functions from economic management, reorganising existing forestry enterprises, countering illegal exploitation of forest resources, and strengthening the communal and private forestry sector.