site.btaNew Ministerial Order Aims to Tighten Control on Tree Felling on Farmland

A new ministerial order aims to tighten control on the felling of trees on farmland. This transpired from a Facebook post by Deputy Environment Minister Toma Belev on Tuesday.

"Wooded farmland in Bulgaria totals more than 300,000 ha which is as much as the entire district of Vidin or Kyustendil, or three times the area of the Strandja Nature Park," Belev wrote. "At the moment, the permits for felling trees there are issued by the local authorities with no procedure under the biodiversity and environmental protection legislation, and often secretly from the public".

It transpires in the post that the order by Environment Minister Borislav Sandov instructs the local environmental inspectorates to subject to screening for a potential need of an environmental impact assessment all requests for felling trees on farmland. The new rule followed from a determination by the EU Court of Justice on Case T-329/17 (following a reference for preliminary ruling concerning the assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment and the concept of deforestation for the purposes of conversion to another type of land use).

Implementing the new rules will improve the information to the public about plans to clear forests and they will be able to express an opinion on investment proposals.