This opinion was expressed by eco-activist Vladislav Sandulyak, one of the leaders of the “Camp of Mother Earth” team and a student at the Faculty of Ecology at the Technical University of Moldova, as reported by Noi.md.

He noted that the audit reports of the Court of Accounts give strong reasons to doubt the activities of Moldsilva.

The most recent report points out issues such as: violations in the distribution of subsidies; lack of transparency and oversight; irregularities in the authorization of logging; non-transparent pricing; violations in the distribution of firewood; exceeding established limits; flaws in the pricing methodology; and breaches in the subsidy allocation mechanism.

“Illegal logging is a separate story altogether. The latest offenders who stole forest resources worth 2–4 million lei were fined just 67,500 lei. That means the state has created favorable conditions for forest theft, especially when foresters are paid miserable wages. I dare to say that if all these violations exist, they will also affect the 200 million euros in European credit funds,” emphasized the eco-activist and student.

According to him, such cases have already been reported in the press during sapling planting. For example, auditors visited the Vadul-lui-Vodă forestry district, where documents claimed 1,866 acacia trees had been planted on 0.8 hectares. However, auditors suspected that the work was not done. They presented slides with photos showing grass and trampled shrubs instead of forest and trees.

“Logically, it should be the minister’s job to restore order in the institutions under his authority, but instead, the minister is actively defending the Moldsilva agency, even recording videos to ‘debunk fakes’. In one of his videos, he holds up some papers, claiming they are permits for legal logging and saying the documents will be uploaded to Moldsilva’s website within a week. A month has passed — and the documents are still missing. Maybe some experts can explain why these documents aren’t made publicly available, or maybe the minister himself can clarify this?” said Vladislav Sandulyak.

He also pointed out that the agency’s website references its last study from 2010.

“As far as I understand, in light of global climate change, it is necessary to conduct a new study to determine exactly how much forest we can afford to cut and how much must be preserved due to global shifts. But Moldsilva is most likely still working under old Soviet systems, where the priority of state logic was to increase production and extract resources — not to adapt to drought. Maybe we can find experts or ask the minister whether the ministry plans to study recent climate trends and adjust logging accordingly to combat heat and drought?” asked the eco-activist.

According to him, if authorities claim they plan to plant many trees as a solution, it is already too late. The trees they plant now will yield results only decades from now.

“But we need action yesterday! That’s why preserving old trees — which are already providing shade and retaining soil moisture — is the only effective way to combat drought today, not 30 years from now,” emphasized Vladislav Sandulyak.