Ministry of Agriculture: the goal of state forest managers, also awarded by WWF, is to preserve, increase and renew forests

According to the expert, the “Stop Deforestation in Hungary” initiative spreading on social media is based on false assumptions and misleads the public.

Péter Zambó emphasized that deforestation – that is, the uncontrolled, permanent removal of forests – is strictly prohibited by law in Hungary. According to the Forest Act, the maintenance of forest land is mandatory. Switching to another land use method instead of forest is only possible in exceptional cases, for example, in the case of the construction of public infrastructure, under strict official supervision, and in many cases with the obligation of replacement afforestation.

If the forest area is harvested for some professional reason – for example, due to aging or deteriorating health -, the forest manager is legally obliged to renew the forest instead. This activity – whether it involves felling, clear-cutting or multi-stage logging – is part of the renewal and rejuvenation of the forest, not deforestation

– the State Secretary underlined.

The basic principle of the Hungarian Forest Act is clear: the forest must be preserved, developed and maintained, not reduced or eliminated. Any other statement to the contrary is wrong or deliberately distorted – he added.