TIRANA, Feb. 24 – Forestry experts have expressed concerns regarding environmental reforms, while forest degradation in Albania continues in alarming rates, according to them.
In many of the municipalities in charge of forest surfaces, forestry and environmental experts have been excluded from serving local bodies, the Voice of American reported.
Moreover, engineers say the moratorium aiming to limit cutting and use of trees has not found a solution for many citizens still using wood for heating and other purposes, thus worsening forest damage.
The use of wood for heating purposes sees a drastic increase, especially in rural areas, during the winter.
“Currently, cities and villages are supplied wood material for heating. The moratorium had a mistake, it did not provide a solution to the heating issue of families. Lacking this, supply is still done through cutting forests,” Kristaq Shore, forestry engineer for the last 40 years in the district of Korca, told local media.
Meanwhile, Senior Adviser for Forestry at non-governmental environmental organization CNVP Stavri Pllaha said the country’s need for fire wood is much greater than the capacity to provide it.
“If we don’t come up with other heating alternatives, many villages, but also several smaller cities, will turn to illegally cutting forest wood,” Pllaha said.
He added the forest reform has many challenges ahead; forest surfaces are now owned by separate municipalities, which are for the most part understaffed and in need of better organization – a pattern noticed in higher institutional levels as well, such as ministries, according to Pllaha.
“There are many possible solutions. One could be to pass forest surfaces in rural areas to the ownership of the families living there for a long time,” Pllaha said.
Gjirokastra-based forestry expert Kleanthi Mandi also referred to another danger – uncontrolled fires, which according to him are responsible for the reduction of about 200,000 hectares of forest surfaces.
Mandi said this great reduction comes from intentional and unintentional fires, as well as illegal forest activities.
While specialists have expressed increasing concerns for these issues, respective bodies are yet to include them and other prevention mechanisms in the forest reforms, while previously independent forest protection and observation bodies have been completely eliminated.
