Today, at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on economic and fiscal policy, the deputies consider a bill to impose moratorium on logging, transportation, purchase and sale, harvesting and use, export and import of valuable (walnut and juniper) wood species.
It is proposed to extend the moratorium for other five years. The last amendment to the law was made on July 16, 2012. Then, felling of especially valuable wood species (walnut and juniper) was permitted during construction and blasting operations, laying of cables, pipelines, transport routes and other communications, geological study and industrial development of subsurface resources. Felling of particularly valuable wood species was regulated by the «Provisional rules for issuing permits for felling particularly valuable (walnut and juniper) tree species," which expired in March 2015.
Exactly the points that permit felling of valuable wood species outraged the deputies. In particular, they were dissatisfied that sanitary felling of the forest was allowed. Officials of the State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry responded that sanitary felling was permitted in a cultural, rather than a wild forest. Fires can occur if it is not done.
Note, the deputies of the Parliament and the State Committee of Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use initiated almost the identical draft bills. Both documents were approved by the deputies in the first reading and they recommended to combine them by the second reading.
