On Wednesday, at the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, they will vote for the harmful amendments to the Law on Green Spaces, which allow concreting of retroduced green spaces. They were included in the agenda of the Environment Committee of the Chamber of Deputies yesterday, on the sixth day, and voted by PNL-PSD deputies. In an open letter, 44 public organizations and public groups ask the People’s Deputies not to adopt the draft law.

“The signatories of this open letter, who represent a part of civil society that is directly involved in the preservation of green spaces, ask the heads of groups and heads of reporting commissions not to accept PLs no. 668/2018 “Draft Law on Amendments to Law 24/2007 on Regulation and Administration of Green Spaces in Cities.” We motivate this request by the fact that the current form of the draft law (PL) has several ambiguities, loopholes and legal problems. We believe that through certain changes and Annex 6, green space will be reduced by 20% for several categories and private green space will be fully developed. Also, playgrounds no longer appear as green areas,” the open letter says.

What amendments were adopted and how they affect:

• Change: Deviation from Art. 71 of the emergency government order no. 195/2005 on environmental protection, approved as amended by Law no. 265/2006, with further amendments and additions, local self-government bodies may change the urban planning of those lands that are included in the category of green spaces, that have the category of use of courtyards-buildings and that were transferred to the private ownership of individuals or legal entities before the entry into force of this Law on the basis of urban planning documentation, approved in accordance with current legislation. State authorities are obliged to create, by any method provided by law, an area of ​​green spaces 10% larger than the one whose classification is being changed, within a maximum period of 2 years from the moment of approval of the change in urban classification in accordance with the above conditions. .

“We are asking to cancel this amendment, because it will lead to the disappearance of all private green spaces, it will oblige the authorities to green up at their own expense, perhaps on the outskirts of the city, if they have land, and all at the expense of taxpayers. There are no sanctions if the authorities do not tidy up the green spaces within 2 years. Therefore, natural persons will be able to build on central, even protected, lands, and we will have, if we have, green spaces on the outskirts,” said representatives of civil society.

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• Amendment: Plantation and building elements that include vegetation, such as a roof, balcony, terrace, atrium, internal or external wall, graves, as well as alleys between them, are not green plantings within the meaning of this law, except for those structural elements that accommodate vegetation a substrate of at least 50 cm, which allows the development of lawns, perennials and shrubs

“We do not agree with the amendment that these alveoli/concrete baths with a minimum soil layer of 50 cm should be considered green spaces. We insist on green plantings on natural soil, otherwise all investments will have these tubs in which we cannot plant a single tree to compensate for the environmental impact,” the NGO explains.

• Changes: Remove the article “For the protection and preservation of green areas, state authorities, their owners or managers have the following obligations: d) not to occupy green areas with temporary or permanent structures.”

“We do not agree with the removal of clause d). It is normal not to build at will on green areas and in any other place,” the NGO explains.

• Amendment: The transformation of territories with a different purpose, from the existing urban territory or by expanding the urban territory, into residential, commercial, industrial or mixed functional zones, for the purpose of carrying out construction works, can be carried out only on the basis of urban planning documentation with the obligation to provide landscaping of the territory not less than 20% of the area of ​​the land plot, the purpose of which has been changed in this way.

“We do not support the amendment. Currently, the minimum area of ​​green spaces is 39%, and within the framework of functional conversion, it is necessary to provide an area of ​​20 sq.m/resident of the complex. Investment-related green spaces will be sharply reduced, the density of buildings will increase significantly, and the percentage of green spaces per capita will sharply decrease,” the NGOs explain.

The current Percentage of Land Occupancy (POT) for green space is 10%, and the new bill proposes a POT of 30% for all categories of green space, 70% for sports and entertainment facilities, in this law the percentages are 30% and 10% respectively. Public organizations call on parliamentarians to cancel these changes.

“All these percentages of green space occupancy, as well as other provisions in the bill, will drastically reduce the area of ​​green space per capita, which will further deviate from the target of 26 square meters per capita, as required by the Environmental Protection Act, GEO 195/2005 , these percentages are taken according to the direct recommendation of the World Health Organization, the current recommended percentage is a minimum of 50 sq.m./person. The consequences of this will be an extremely alarming increase in the number of diseases and deaths caused by environmental pollution. This will significantly increase the budgetary costs of treating these diseases caused by poor air quality, and of course the loss of green spaces will result in significant financial sanctions from the European Union. We remind you that the Romanian state is in a state of legal proceedings with the EU due to the poor air quality in the big cities of our country,” says the open letter.

Public organizations that signed the open letter:

• Public group Şos Giurgiului No. 164,
• Public group “For playgrounds and green areas in Grozavesh”
• Herăstrau Park Group,
• Public initiative group “Izvor Park”,
• Eco-Citizen Foundation,
• Ghencea Extension Initiative Association,
• Public initiative group Lacul Tei,
• Favorite initiative group,
• Floreasca Civica Group,
• Cherry Tree Parents Association,
• Terra Millennium III,
• Society of the Transylvanian Carpathians – Satu Mare,
• Eco library,
• Bihor Center for Protected Areas and Sustainable Development,
• Association for the Development of Ecotourism in the North-Eastern Region of Romania,
• Conservation Foundation “Prykarpattia”,
• GO Spiritual Militia,
• Eco Ruralis Association,
• Association “Public Initiative “Regin”,
• Association Neuer Weg,
• Public Association (Iasi),
• Environmental Culture and Education Fund “Ekotop”,
• Arin Association,
• Public initiative group Sala Palatului,
• Association “Alliance Against Abuse”,
• Association for the Conservation of Biological Diversity (ACDB),
• Association “Kutsu, kutsu”,
• Association “Mission 4 Life”
• Public group “Save the youth park”,
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• Romanian Ornithological Society,
• ProDoMo Association,
• Public group Save the little park Emil Gârleanu,
• WWF Romania,
• Greenpeace CEE Romania,
• Bankwatch Romania,
• Association “Workshops without borders”,
• A better association
• Otus Association,
• Community group Save Pecineaga Park,
• Argeș Barrage Community Group from Bucharest,
• Public group Nightwatchers “Save the Banyas Forest”
• Propark – Fund for nature conservation areas,
• Resource center for public participation,
• Children’s forest association,