Bulgaria and Romania were following a trend similar to the one in most EU member states concerning the utilisation of natural resources, the Living Planet 2006 report of the World Wide Fund (WWF) ecological organisation said.

The two countries needed to undertake urgent measures to restore ecological balance, the report said.

Both countries were in possession of significant natural resources. Yet, utilisation of such was similar to the one in more developed countries and the amount of waste produced was above the acceptable levels.

EU needed to provide funds guaranteeing higher standards of living in Bulgaria and Romania and lower resource consumption, the report said.

Infrastructure to be created in the two countries in the coming years was going to determine resource consumption in the next decades. Thermal power plants worked on the average between 30 and 75 years and a highway could function for up to 50 years.

Bulgaria and Romania consumed nearly two times more energy than countries in Western Europe, the report said.

This trend could be changed only through investment in new technologies, the report said.