Since March 2022, the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine has not been providing for the activities of the Kreminna Forests National Nature Park, the only one in Luhansk Oblast.
Experts from the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group (UNPG) drew attention to this situation. They published an article on their website.
The environmentalists said that the territory of this national park is in the zone of active hostilities and has been under occupation since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. According to them, the State Forestry Agency, which is subordinated to this object of the nature reserve fund, has not yet been able to restore it even after 3 years:
- did not re-register "Kreminski lisy" on the controlled territory of Ukraine;
- did not resolve the issue with full-time employees;
- did not fire the head of the park Yevgeny Proskurnikov, who in June 2024 received from the State Bureau of Investigation on suspicion of cooperation with the occupation authorities and holds a leadership position in the self-proclaimed bodies of the LPR.
According to the UPG, the park workers, who immediately left the occupied territories and continue the scientific work of the park, have not received a single penny of wages since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression and cannot even get a new job, as they are still officially employed in the "Kremin Forests".
The experts also reminded that in the past this park was liquidated by a court decision following a lawsuit by Yanukovych's team.
"In 2019, justice was restored, and Volodymyr Zelenskyi's first decree regarding the nature reserve fund was the decree on the creation of this park," says the UPG.
Why is this important?
The environmentalists reminded that some other institutions of the nature reserve fund were also under occupation, but they continue their activities in a limited mode and continue their environmental and educational work. Their main task at the moment is documenting the consequences of Russian aggression for the nature of our country, experts say.
"These data are invaluable for forming and substantiating cases in international courts against Russia," experts emphasized.
The UPG is sure that the very functioning of the institutions of the nature reserve fund during the occupation, even in remote mode, is an important signal of the state that Ukraine has not given up on these territories and the people who work to preserve them.
Therefore, members of the UPG appealed to the State Forestry Agency and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine with a demand to improve the administration of the National Nature Park "Kremin Forests", including:
- to appoint a new management of the park;
- establish the work of a scientific unit for continuous monitoring of damage to nature caused by the aggressor;
- to pay wages to park employees who performed their duties during 2022-2024, despite the complete lack of care over the park by the State Forestry Agency;
- to transfer the National Nature Park "Kreminski lisy" to the sphere of management of the Ministry of Environment.
The other day, EcoPolitic talked about the scandal that broke out in social networks regarding the draft law No. 11024 on the nature reserve fund, also known as the "jeeping law", adopted on January 8. In particular, we published clarification of the Ministry of Environment regarding this situation.
