The Minister of the Environment cut down a forest in Klaipėda district, the opposition cut down the minister

The Minister of the Environment, liberal Simonas Gentvilas, does not recognize the accusations against him for allegedly illegally felling his own forest in the Klaipėda region and environmental violations. According to the minister, the problem is being raised precisely now because of the upcoming elections. However, several opposition members of the Seimas wrote to the Speaker of the Seimas and the minister himself regarding possible violations. And he was asked open questions: will you distance yourself from the investigation, and if violations are found, will you resign?
Asked for a sample
Last week, the news portal “Delfi” reported on the cuttings made in the forest area belonging to the Minister of the Environment S. Gentvilis in the Klaipėda district, in the Veivirženiai borough. Non-governmental organizations assured that environmental violations had been committed, and the Department of Environmental Protection launched an investigation. It is said that ruts were left after logging, the forest road was damaged, and the tracks were not used properly. It should be noted that the forest road was also damaged in the neighboring plot, as well as the ditch was destroyed. According to the opposition of the Seimas, S. Gentvilas chose the least biological diversity-friendly clear-cutting for felling.
After the publicized information about possible violations committed in S. Gentvila’s forest, Tomas Tomilinas, Agnė Širinskienė and Ligita Girskienė, members of the Seimas opposition, wrote to the Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen and the Minister of the Environment S. Gentvila himself. “When planning the forest cutting works in your forest plot, you chose the least biodiversity-friendly clear cutting. Don’t you think that as the Minister of the Environment you should set an example of sustainable and exemplary forestry to other forest owners and avoid examples of behavior that does not preserve nature?” asked the MPs of the Seimas opposition in their appeal. It was also asked: if violations are found, will Mr. Gentvilas resign from his position as a minister? “Can you promise that you will resign, at least in the event that the Environmental Protection Department under the Ministry of Environment finds violations after conducting an investigation?” asked the members of the Seimas, indicating that they expect answers on March 12. At the session of the Seimas.
He saw the upcoming elections
At the session of the Seimas on Tuesday, Environment Minister S. Gentvilas said that the forest was cut legally. “The complaints, I think, are more related to the election year, because the deforestation was done 14 months ago and it is only now being made public.” The forest – spruce, wet land, according to the forest management project, should have been cut 4 years ago. A mature forest, the age of its felling has come,” commented the Minister of the Environment in the Seimas in response to the opposition’s questions.
“Those involved in forestry understand that in swampy forest land, especially on the coast, in the Klaipėda district, it is nonsense not to cut clearings, because the remaining trees are uprooted in the wet soil by coastal winds,” explained S. Gentvilas.
According to the minister, two more fellings were carried out in the forest belonging to him – in 2008. and in 2015 The Minister of Environment has repeatedly emphasized that the forest used to belong to his grandfather and he properly looked after that forest. Speaking about the possibly damaged road in the neighboring plot, the minister emphasized that the removal of wood was coordinated with the neighbor.

The parliamentarian recalled the promises
“After each felling, at least one year must pass for the forest floor to air out, usually replanting is the following year. That’s what I want to do this year”, S. Gentvilas said in the Seimas on Tuesday in response to the opposition’s questions and invited the members of the Seimas who submitted questions to him to visit the logging site at the weekend, and maybe to participate in the forest clearance.
“The forest has been cleared. Cutting the forest is not prohibited. The minister says that with permits and a project. I believe. Environmentalists, who are directly under the Ministry of Environment, have launched an investigation and will check the documents. I think that the minister, avoiding a conflict of interests, should step down from his duties, at least until the investigation is carried out,” reasoned Seimas member L. Girskienė on her FB account on Tuesday, pointing out that the long-promised National Forest Agreement still does not exist, and the forests are clearing are cut en masse. In addition, the MP noted in her post “that the Minister of the Environment did not declare the forest sale transaction, although the law obliges him to do so immediately. No information is published anywhere about who and for how much the wood was sold.”

Based on press releases