Today, April 30, parliament passed Bill No. 13693. While lawmakers were voting on the bill, environmentalists and activists held a rally against its passage. They are convinced that behind the noble goal of regulating the burial of Ukrainian heroes lies a change that poses a direct threat to the preservation of protected natural areas.
EcoPolitic explains why this decision has sparked such a public reaction.
The first domino
In the announcement of the law’s adoption on the Verkhovna Rada’s website, the text explicitly states the reason why environmentalists are outraged, claiming that an anti-ecological precedent is being legalized.
It is stipulated that the withdrawal of land plots from permanent use for the placement of a National Military Memorial Cemetery may be carried out without the consent of the land user, provided the land is state-owned.The presence of an Emerald Network site and/or structural elements of the ecological network on such land is not grounds for prohibiting a change of purpose of that land plot for the placement of the National Military Memorial Cemetery and military memorial cemeteries.
In short, environmental protection status is no longer a safeguard for the territory. In this case, land may be taken for memorial cemeteries without consent; however, changes to the Land Code create room for similar manipulations in any sector.
“This issue has long since gone beyond the borders of Markhalivka. These are changes to the Land Code that could create a dangerous precedent for all of Ukraine: changes in the designated purpose of particularly valuable land, development of protected areas, forests, and Emerald Network plots,” – emphasized the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center.
The former Ministry of Environmental Protection simply wanted to remove Markhalivka Forest from the Emerald Network. As we can see, now a workaround is being used-legislative codification of ignoring the valuable status of such land.
Green light for the destruction of green areas
These explosive amendments will now be incorporated into the Land Code. In fact, according to the new paragraph 13 of Article 20 of the document, the inclusion of a land plot in the Emerald Network is no longer grounds to classify it as land of the nature reserve fund.
As noted by the NGO “Code 21” on its “Zakarpattia Ecological” page, this directly contradicts the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine. In the case concerning Markhalivka Forest, the Court classified the Emerald Network as land of the nature reserve fund (NRF). Moreover, the law on NRF clearly states that such lands may exclusively be used for conservation, scientific research, educational, health improvement, other recreational purposes, and for monitoring the surrounding natural environment.
However, Law No. 13693 not only blocks the inclusion of the Emerald Network into the Nature Reserve Fund. The same new 13th point of the Land Code states that these lands may belong to any category of land regardless of ownership form.
Of course, they indulgently added that use depends on existing restrictions. However, the lawmakers deliberately overlooked one detail – the Emerald Network does not have such restrictions, since Ukraine still lacks a law regulating it.
Who is next?
The Emerald Network brings together lands of special environmental interest in countries that have joined the Bern Convention. By the way, Ukraine is among them. As recently as October 2025, Deputy Minister of Economy Ihor Zubovych noted the importance of their protection, the preparation of EU integration steps, and work on legislative changes.
As we can see, while this work is “ongoing”, the parliament managed to put the Emerald Network at risk. More precisely, to put it on the chopping block.
Among the areas now at risk of anything but environmental use are the Carpathian Mountains. EcoPolitics has consistently covered the issue of wind power plant development on their ridges. However, changes to the Land Code may become another argument in favor of the developers.
“Virtually all ridges in the mountainous Zakarpattia region where wind turbines are planned are current or proposed Emerald Network areas, which, according to the latest decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, have been recognized as protected areas. This provides grounds for challenging approvals for the construction of wind power plants on these ridges,” – emphasized the “Save Pikuy” community.
EcoPolitic has previously reported on the threat posed to the environment by the new draft Civil Code. Essentially, it would make it possible to exploit registry deficiencies to appropriate valuable land. As a result, the state and the public would have fewer tools to protect these areas.
