Gentville’s message on forests to environment ministers caused a storm on Facebook: it is justified that he did not understand so much

The politician’s message about forests is spreading locally

However, the attitude of the candidate for ministers in full reform of the SFE is no less controversial. This politician was one of the fiercest critics of the SFE reform.

In recent days, S. Gentvilas’s thoughts on deforestation, which were once expressed on a social network, have spread. “The forest is not oil that can remain until it is pumped. A forest that is not cut down in time rots, turns into firewood and releases trapped CO2 into the atmosphere. Forest clearing in Lithuania is too slow. This is bad for the climate and the budget. In this case, it no longer matters whether the felled wood will be exported or processed, ”S. Gentvilas once said on Facebook.

But not only the naturalists did not miss it. Here is a naturalist and forester, the president of the Labanoras club Andrejus Gaidamavičius has prepared a petition asking “not to hand over the Ministry of the Environment to the Liberal Movement.”

The text of the petition is published on the website. peticijos.lt. The petition addressed to the candidate for the post of Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte has already been signed by 638 people.

“At the end of the reign of the Lithuanian Green and Peasant Union, we had high hopes that the destruction of nature in Lithuania would finally end. But after the Liberal Movement of the Republic of Lithuania, a partner of his coalition, has Publicly declared that they want the portfolio of the Ministry of the Environment and intend to delegate the Seimas member Simon Gentvilas to the ministers, we are very concerned about protesting against Lithuanian forests, especially in protected areas, – says the petition.

It states that environmental protection is already too liberal today, so it would not make sense to speak here of even faster liberalization.

“There may be areas that can be liberalized, but nature conservation is already too liberal: protected areas are cut down in the same way as unprotected ones, maximum quotas are set for hunting protected species of European importance and controls environmental conditions are minimal, “the petition says.

And it is here that S. Gentvil’s public speeches are remembered.

“From the public statements of Simon Gentvilas, the Liberal Movement candidate for Minister of the Environment, we hear that Lithuanian forests are cut too weakly, that one of the most valuable forests in Europe, the Punia Forest, does not need the status of reserve and additional logging restrictions, such as a ban on logging in protected areas. Evaluations of party programs show that the Liberal Movement denies the problem of biodiversity loss, although the opposite is clearly the case. The European Commission, which encourages Member States to implement the Green Course, is paying particular attention to the rapid loss of biodiversity and natural habitats. Therefore, the question arises whether the Liberal Movement and its candidate for the Environment live in the same reality as the vast majority. part of society that sees the daily destruction of the country’s landscape and wildlife “, states the text of the appeal .

It also goes on to say that only almost 7,000 ha of nature reserves were allowed to be logged during the late Seimas period. “Even more forests in regional and national parks have turned into plains. To stop the destruction of protected areas, many variants of the amendment to the Forest Law have been prepared, but all of them, thanks to members of the Seimas like Simonas Gentvilas and Kęstutis Mažeika, have been stuck in the Environmental Protection Committee for many years ” says the petition.

Finally, it is proposed that the Ministry of the Environment belongs to the main coalition party, the Union of the Fatherland, the Lithuanian Christian Democrats.

“In the 21st century, when the world suffers the effects of climate change and forests have become the pillar of the rescue, we call on the Lithuanian Christian Democrats of the National Union, who won the Seimas elections, to take the initiative in environmental protection. Especially since it has competent and honest candidates suitable for the positions of Minister of the Environment and Chairman of the Seimas Environmental Protection Committee. At the same time, we declare that neither the Liberal Movement nor its proposed candidate Simon Gentville count with our support for these positions, ”the petition reads.

He opposed the reform of the SFE

It should also be remembered that after the Seimas of this legislature began the reform of the SFE, the liberal Simon Gentvilas was one of its fiercest critics. He has repeatedly publicly criticized the idea of ​​merging the then-operating SFE and 42 subordinate SFEs into a single legal entity.

However, the reform of the SFE has been implemented. It wouldn’t be given the green light if it weren’t for the conservative group that supported this decision. The majority of the Seimas formed by the “peasants” would not have had enough votes. So it was the members of the conservative group.

2017 portal miškininkas.eu S. Gentvilas stated that he doubted the benefits of the reform of the SFE: “It is very doubtful that the transformation of all the SFE into a state company is the best and most optimal option. (…) I would like to emphasize that the transformation of the state forest management system is not the main problem that the Minister of the Environment must urgently address ”.

In an interview with the portal, the Liberal also mentioned the reason why he is reluctant to support the reform: “In areas where forestry companies are one of the largest and most important employers, this reform would obviously” cross corners. ” An example of this is Ignalina, where the state company Ignalina Forest Enterprise is the largest employer in the district. It is obvious that the abandonment of the PEFs would have dire consequences for the future of the regions and would further increase the number of unemployed. “

S. Gentvilas and his father, as well as Eugenijus Gentvilas, a member of the Liberal Movement faction in the Seimas, have spoken on forestry issues.

During this period, the Liberal Group proposed to abolish the tax on timber sold to private forest owners.

It is important to note that these amendments were actively supported and proposed by S. and E. Gentvilas. Only later did they admit to journalists that they themselves manage such small and tiny areas of forest.

Provisions of the Forestry Law proposed by these parliamentarians stipulate that private forest owners must pay a 5 percent tax to the state budget from the income received from the sale of raw timber and uncut forest.

In this case, if the wood has not been sold, no tax is paid. This fee greatly outraged private forest owners and they were constantly looking for a way to withdraw it.

The money raised from this tax is used to repair forest roads and improve infrastructure.

Although both politicians ruled the forest, they did not feel compelled to withdraw from the Seimas or not present these amendments themselves.

S. Gentvilas described the history of the message that was spread in the Bulletin

Delphi managed to contact the candidate for environment ministers S. Gentville. He said he had already managed to see the petition. “It just came to my attention then. The Ministry of the Environment is the Ministry of Interests. There are thousands of buried conflicts. They have never been resolved,” Gentvilas said.

When asked what he thinks today about the intensity of deforestation, Gentville said that protected areas should be reduced, and in commercial forests, it is not worth talking about reducing intensity, because commercial forests should benefit the economy.

“With regard to logging, I recognize that we are not protecting what Europe and society demand of all of us: national parks, habitats of European importance. We in 2013 are committed to protecting. I agree with all those who say that protected areas should be protected and not crossed, “said the politician.

He was asked about his phrase floating in Fikslukė, “that the forest is being cut down too slowly in Lithuania. It’s bad for the climate and the budget, ”he said, taken out of context.

“It is a phrase of mine out of context that floats in the Consultation. Then there was a reform of the SFEs and the Kaunas SFE said that all logging should stop. My answer was to him: how can the director say that everything has to be stopped? The SFE is an economic object. He plants forests and goes through them. Now taken out of context, intimidating society. Without knowing S. Gentville, I would say: what is an inadequate politician, “said the liberal.

And here he reiterated his current position: “In protected areas, logging is too intense. During the first half of the year, I propose a new mandate, whatever the minister, for the protection of habitats of importance to the EU both in forests and in agriculture. Agriculture hasn’t even started to talk about the environment, even though it is one of the biggest polluters. Agriculture must take responsibility for nature.

I am in favor of reducing logging in protected areas. But a balance needs to be found and our agricultural forests must be cut down at a time when they are maturing. These are commercial forests that are necessary for our economy. If we want to change oil, plastic, gas, we need wood. The big problem is that commercial forests are in protected areas. The conflict is programmed here, ”said S. Gentvilas.

The petition states that Mr. Gentvil opposes the development of the Punia Silo Reserve. The politics itself Delphi stated that he did not consider the heat to be at risk at this time. According to him, the waterhole is adequately protected, and yet the regional park authority could restart the reserve development procedures and assess what really needs to be protected there.

“I think everything is protected in Punia. There is only one state forest, the state of a reserve, part of it is a reserve. The question of expanding the reserve … It seems to me that all the abscesses that are not resolved, have stood out the Punia páramo. The procedure for granting reserve status must be renewed. The management must watch over what we have to protect there. The big question is about the scope of sanitary logging. Here is the object of the conflict. Now we have reinforced it in the amendment to the Forest Law, and it keeps Punia warm. The Punia wasteland is safe. People should be calm, “said the politician.

Remembering that the politician was one of the fiercest critics of the SFE reform, he did not deny that he is still not entirely satisfied with the results of the merger. However, he categorically denied that after becoming minister he would try to divide the SFE again. However, he stressed that the director cannot be appointed minister.

“I think there was no rational discussion about SFE. There was a lack of dialogue. I am in favor of the SFE model. Today I see many problems in the current SFE. However, you should not go back to the times when it broke. It is very important that you are independent from the minister. The Minister cannot appoint the Director General. Politicians should not. We need a strong board. It cannot be a director dependent on a director. In general, after consolidation, I see very big evolutionary problems, ”said S. Gentvilas.