On Monday, March 3, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management will hold a meeting via videoconference at 11:00 a.m.
EcoPolitic has prepared the committee's agenda for its readers.
It is currently available on the website as of February 25. There are also materials for the meeting.
The members of the environmental committee will consider 3 issues:
- On the letter of the Accounting Chamber dated 27.12.2024 No. 03-4366 regarding the Report on the results of the performance audit on “Disaster Risk Reduction – Climate Change Adaptation Measures”.
- Regarding amendments to part two of Article 107 of the Forest Code of Ukraine introduced by the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Forest Conservation” dated 20.06.2022 No. 2321-IX.
- On personnel issues of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management.
The second issue concerns the provisions of the Forest Code, according to which “damage caused to a forest that has not been granted for use, in case of failure to identify the persons responsible for causing the damage, shall be compensated by the local government body within whose territory the forest to which the damage was caused is located.”
There is already a precedent: On November 11, 2024, the Commercial Court of Rivne Region upheld the claim of the State Environmental Inspectorate of Polissia District to recover from Dubrovytsia City Council the damage caused to the environment in the amount of over UAH 4.9 million.
The felling, which was the subject of this litigation, was discovered by a temporary commission consisting of representatives of the Dubrovytsia City Council, the Sarny Forestry Branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”, the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Rivne Regional State Administration, the Northwest Interregional Forestry and Hunting Department, and the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Polissya District.
The Association of Ukrainian Cities opposed this provision in the legislation.
“As a result of this provision, territorial communities are financially liable without fault for other people's actions or inaction. In addition, the implementation of this provision may deprive local communities of ownership of land under forest plantations,” the Association said in a letter to the head of the Environmental Committee, Oleh Bondarenko.
Representatives of the cities also believe that part two of Article 107 violates the constitutional principles of justice and guarantees of local self-government, and encourages
- inaction of law enforcement agencies to find those responsible for causing damage to the forest, illegal deforestation;
- incentives to commit new offenses, as the perpetrators are not held accountable for their actions;
- increasing social injustice by punishing the innocent.
According to court practice, local communities are charged for the damage caused to the forest as a result of illegal deforestation without law enforcement agencies searching for offenders,” the letter states.
Therefore, the Association of Ukrainian Cities proposed to the head of the environmental committee to introduce a bill that would protect the interests of territorial communities and provided the relevant draft amendments to the Forest Code. The second part of Article 107 of the Forest Code is absent from the draft.
The other day, in its weekly digest, EcoPolitic told about an organized criminal group that was engaged in illegal logging in the Dnipro region and caused several million hryvnias in environmental damage.
