Near the village of Zbyny of the Zhdeniyiv community, which is located in the Mukachevo district of the Zakarpattia region, employees of the Svalyava Forestry branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” are cutting down a forest for a highway that is not listed in the forest management materials.
This information was reported by Zakarpattya Online.
What violations did the journalists find?
The media claim that Ukrderzhlisproekt agreed and approved the conclusion for this road contrary to the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regulating the procedure for taking measures to improve the quality composition of forests, conducting other logging and works related and not related to forestry.
The publication accused the foresters of the Svalyava Forestry branch of ignoring part of the legislation. They reminded that in cases where logging is not planned by forest management materials, public participation in the inspection of logging areas is mandatory.
“It is obvious that the forestry wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions from professional ecologists and environmental activists, and therefore the public was not invited to inspect the stands in the allotment 45 of the block 5 of the Pashkivtsi forestry. Instead, they limited the participation to a representative of the local government, who was the head of social and civil protection of the population of the Zhdenia village council, Yaroslav Komarnitsky,” the journalists say.
As evidence, Zakarpattya Online provided a copy of the relevant tree survey report.
Source: zakarpattya.net.ua.
They also reminded that this branch is certified under the FSC scheme, and ignoring the public and building a road not approved by forest management materials are violations of the principles and criteria of forest certification.
Where the construction is planned
The 7 km long forest road is planned to be built through quarters 1-6 and 20 of the Pashkivtsi forestry.
Source: zakarpattya.net.ua.
According to journalists, in total, in the quarters where the road is planned to be built, foresters will carry out maintenance and sanitary felling on an area of almost 650 hectares.
“Clear-cutting in the 5th quarter of the Pashkivtsi forestry began in December last year, and in January of this year, 8 more logging tickets were issued for the same felling in quarters 5, 6, and 20,” the publication says.
Who is interested in this road
Zakarpattya Online says that the road is needed to ensure the logistics of the projects of Wind Parks of Ukraine LLC, in particular for the construction of windmills on the tops of Rivna Valley and Mount Hola.
“The planned construction stretches from the village of Zbyni in the Zhdeniivka community to the Preluky tract and coincides with the route to the meadow to the mentioned ridges,” the journalists say.
Photo: zakarpattya.net.ua.
According to them, in total, Wind Farms of Ukraine plans to build more than 200 wind turbines with a total capacity of more than 1 GW in Zakarpattia. The journalists claim that all the places chosen for wind farms, except for Nyzhni Vorota, where construction is already underway, belong to the valuable nature protection areas of the Emerald Network.
Recently, EcoPolitic reported that despite a court ban, logging continues in the Markhalivskyi forest near Kyiv.
