Mediu: Reinforcing forest exploitation rules

At least 70% of the timber is illegally traded, and millions of hectares of land have been affected by erosion, causing the destruction of roads and houses.

“In Albania, timber keeps being exploited more than what our forests really offer. The forest sector is still informal, and 70% of the timber is traded illegally. Albania is losing millions of cubic meters of land, due to erosion. Roads are being destroyed, fields and houses have been flooded, and hundreds of forests and pastures have been burned”, declared the Rector of the Agricultural University, Fatos Harizaj.

The Minister of Environment, Fatmir Mediu, asked the local government to reinforce the inspection and establish stricter rules for the users and the companies that operate.

“We have been able to transfer this power to the local government, but they haven’t transmitted it to the traditional users and the residents, with strict and clear rules, so that they can now that regardless to whom the land title of a forest belongs, no one can exploit it without respecting the rules. Not a private owner, not the government, and neither the local government”, Mediu declared.

In Albania, 15% of the forest surface is under protection. This includes the national parks and those that are not spared from illegal exploitation.

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