Hundreds of people from Corbeanka and other towns in Ilfow county protested on Saturday, unhappy with air quality that has been affected by illegal waste burning in recent weeks. The participants declared their support for the creation of the Green Belt.

Hundreds of Corbeanque residents protested alongside neighbors from Baloteşti, Mogoşoai and Bufti, demanding that national, county and local authorities take immediate measures to improve air quality, organizers said, News.ro reported.

Participants covered three kilometers, and the action lasted three hours. People chanted “We want clean air”, “No pollution”, “Forests for people”, “We want a green belt”, “Ilfov is clean”.

In recent weeks, it is impossible to breathe in Corbeanka and its surroundings due to the illegal burning of garbage, as confirmed by monitoring sensors.

The protest was organized by the Activ Corbeanca Association and supported by the Civic Platform “Together for the Green Belt”, which calls on the communities of Ilfov and the country to organize, unite and defend their right to clean air and a healthy environment.

Organizers revealed that the march was the first of a series to be staged in Ifov, the capital and anywhere in the country where needed.

“Pollution kills us in days. Illegal burning of waste has long gone out of control in Ilfov and is a manifestation of a serious form of corruption, not just the inaction of those who are supposed to protect us. In addition, the authorities or environmental protection almost do not respond to inquiries, and when they do, they too often say that they cannot identify the source of the pollution. Remember that famous case when the smoke was visible right from the Palace of Parliament, and at first we just shrugged our shoulders. Last week I couldn’t do outdoor sports for several days in a row, the smell of burning rubber was so strong in Corbeanka. (…)”, said Alex Gevan, founder of the Civic Platform “Together for the Green Belt”.

More than 150 non-governmental organizations, public groups and public figures, united by apoliticality under the auspices of the Civic Platform “Together for the Green Belt” and with the support of the Presidential Administration, arrived for a meeting with politicians and the authorities. Memorandum for clean air, health and the future.

The seven-point document contains a draft law aimed at protecting the Ilfov forests, the cornerstone of the future green belt, as well as addressing the problem of pollution both in Bucharest and the district, and in other cities of the country. country. The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate, and before a final vote in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, the decision-making forum, it is now being discussed in the last committee, which is on Agriculture and Forestry, Food Industry and Special Services.

The initiators of the platform are Alex Gevan, a high-altitude climber and conservationist, and Florin Stoican, president of the Kogayon and Network for Urban Nature associations.

“Together to the Green Belt” is a project of the Alex Havan Foundation.

According to the organizers of the protest, 29,000 people die prematurely every year in Romania due to air pollution. For many years, Bucharest was in the TOP-3 most polluted capitals of the EU, recording the biggest budget losses related to the treatment of diseases caused or aggravated by air pollution, with annual losses of 6.35 billion euros.

With 16% of forest cover, Ilfovul is considered, according to the Forest Code, “a territory with a deficit of forest vegetation.”