Prices rocket and forests felled as people turn to firewood to heat homes

Tudor Popescu chops fire wood he uses for heating in a storage room attached to his home in Chisinau, Moldova (AP Photo/Aurel Obreja)

Tudor Popescu swings his axe down on a log, then feeds the split wood into a stove that heats his home in the capital of Moldova.

As the nights turn chilly, the stack of firewood has been growing higher around him — his provisions for the coming winter.