An online petition to the president calling for urgent action to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the Ukrainian Carpathians has gathered the required 25,000 signatures. The petition was launched in response to the construction of industrial wind farms on mountain peaks over 1,000 meters high, which has already led to deforestation and the installation of foundations prior to the environmental impact assessment procedure.
This information was reported on the electronic petition portal.
"Preserving the Carpathians is not only our national duty but also the fulfillment of Ukraine’s international environmental obligations. The loss of these territories would mean the loss of a natural resource capable of supporting the restoration of society in the post-war period," emphasized the petition’s author, military officer and ecologist Andriy Tupikov.
Urgent measures
The petition calls on the president to influence the creation of relevant legislation and regulatory acts. First and foremost, this involves the urgent preparation of a draft law to ensure comprehensive protection of the Carpathians:
- regulate the special conditions for sustainable development of the region;
- guarantee the protection of its unique ecosystems and cultural heritage;
- prohibit destructive interference in high-mountain areas and other sites with valuable natural complexes, specifically including clear-cutting of forests and construction of facilities with related infrastructure.
An important mechanism for protecting valuable territories could be granting them conservation status. Thus, in his petition, Andriy Tupikov calls for the prompt development of regulations to create and expand protected nature reserves. This concerns the national natural parks “Verkhovynsky” and “Majestic Carpathians,” as well as the reserves “Polonyna Hostra,” “Polonyna Krasna,” “Vilnyi Svydivets,” “Polonyna Apetska,” “Polonyna Bychkiv,” “Lutyanska Holytsia,” and “Verkhovynsky Watershed Ridge.”
The petition’s author considers the current situation a threat to environmental safety in the Carpathian region. Therefore, he calls on the President to convene an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council. The result should be a commitment by the government to develop effective mechanisms to guarantee Ukrainians’ rights to a safe environment. Precisely these mechanisms are to become safeguards against violations during the preparation and approval of spatial planning documentation for mountain regions.
Barriers to the expression of one's will
The petition was allowed to the vote only on the fifth attempt. According to Andriy Tupikov, it was not made available for Ukrainians to vote for two months.
“The petition has collected the required minimum. The President must give an official response, and we will monitor this closely. The fight for the Carpathians is just beginning. Today we have shown that we are ready to fight. The Carpathians will live!” the author of the petition responded.
Ecopolitic adds context, noting that the petition is being signed against the backdrop of controversial decisions by the state authorities. In particular, it has become known that the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development has developed a resolution on canceling EIA and SEA for projects within regional resilience plans.
Earlier, the Ministry of Economy and Environment issued a positive EIA opinion for the construction of a wind farm on the Runa meadow. The officials themselves admitted that the construction of the foundations began even before the environmental assessment of these works.
