On October 13, environmentalists, animal rights activists, and war veterans protested in Kyiv against the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine. The participants accused officials of issuing illegal permits for deforestation in protected areas and corruption.
This was reported by Volodymyr Boreiko, director of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center (KECC).
Environmentalists emphasized the long-term violation of the Bern Convention on the Protection of Wolves by the liquidated Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. In particular, the officials' support for hunting wild animals.
Photo: facebook.com
The protesters also accused the Ministry of Economy of issuing illegal permits for deforestation in national parks, reserves and sanctuaries. Additionally, they accused the Ministry of corruption, lies, and gross violations of the Berne Convention.
In particular, the activists claim that officials illegally approved documents for the destruction of the Markhaliv forest (Kyiv region) for a military cemetery. They also sent false reports to the Berne Convention Committee on the state of the Emerald Network in Ukraine.
According to Volodymyr Boreyko, CECC chairman, only in the last few years has the former Ministry of Ecology increased the limits on the use of natural resources in protected areas:
1) logging – doubled to 700,000 m3 of timber;
2) hay harvesting – increased 20-fold, to 800 t;
3) reeds – tripled, to 18,000 t;
4) industrial fishing – 39 times higher, up to 1,700 t;
5) berry harvesting – 22 times higher, up to 200 t;
6) mushroom harvesting – quadrupled, up to 130 t.
Photo: facebook.com
Protesters' demands to officials:
1) conducting an investigation into the activities of former heads of the Ministry of Environment;
2) abolishing illegal limits on logging, fishing and hunting in protected areas;
3) withdrawal of letters with false information to the Berne Convention Committee;
4) adoption of a new law on wolf protection.
The activists also demand the dismissal of the Director of the Department of Nature Conservation Yevhen Tokar. In particular, they demand an end to censorship of national parks, which they say was introduced by former Deputy Minister Viktoria Kyreeva.
Photo: facebook.com
The organizers said that if their demands are not heeded, they will bring even more people to the picket to the Minister of Economy Oleksiy Sobolev. The protesters added that if the ministry ignores the problems, they will pass the collected materials on abuses to law enforcement agencies.
However, representatives of the ministry did not come out to the picketers.
"We have nothing to say to them," said Boreyko.
As EcoPolitics wrote in September, the Department of Environmental Protection of the Kyiv City State Administration plans to cancel the decision to ban clear-cutting in Kyiv region, said Volodymyr Boreiko, director of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center.
