In the Mykolaiv region, WWF-Ukraine and The HALO Trust Ukraine, in cooperation with the local Snihuriv community, have restored a forest belt damaged by the fighting near the village of Tamaryne.
This was reported by WWF-Ukraine.
This pilot project was part of the “Forest Strips: Restoration and Resilience” initiative launched in 2024.
Last fall, experts examined the mined areas, took soil samples, and began developing a restoration plan. Oleksandr Sovakov, an associate professor at the Department of Forest Reproduction and Forest Reclamation at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, said that this forest belt will become a research facility of the department, and scientists will provide scientific support.
Photo: wwf.ua.
When preparing for the reforestation, experts took into account the peculiarities of the region and selected the appropriate plant species. Recently, acorns of the common oak were sown and seedlings of fruit trees were planted on the site of the future forest belt. Residents of the community, Mykolaiv and experts joined the planting, sowing more than 1,000 acorns and planting more than 100 fruit trees in less than 5 hours and using 10 pairs of hands.
Acorns for this purpose were collected last fall by concerned residents of Mykolaiv region. Some of them were donated to the family farm to grow seedlings to supplement this forest belt and restore other areas.
Photo: halotrust.org.
Scientists said that the combination of common oak with fruit trees and shrubs will help to form long-lasting and biologically sustainable plantations. Fruit trees in such forest belts will play an additional role: they will protect the oaks and attract birds and pollinating insects.
According to the scientists, planting is only the first stage. In the future, the trees need constant care: manual weeding, mowing, and watering. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg helped fund this pilot project.
Experts predict that in the future, the forest belt will become a sustainable plantation that will protect agricultural land from dust storms and dry winds, increase yields, and serve as an ecological corridor for flora and fauna.
Why it is important
Experts say that more than 80% of Mykolaiv region is occupied by agricultural land, and the level of plowing is critical and in some places reaches 85%, while in Europe this figure is 25%. They emphasized that active hostilities and the ongoing occupation of the territories have exacerbated the problem.
Referring to recent research, the scientists claim that forest belts near the front line have lost their functionality by almost 57%. This factor significantly reduces the agricultural capacity of the Mykolaiv region, as in such a water-scarce region, the ability of forest belts to reduce evaporation and thus increase yields is very important.
Serhiy Shcherbak, an environmentalist at The HALO Trust in Ukraine, said that today almost every second demined area in Mykolaiv region contains remnants of forest belts damaged by military operations and fires. Some of them suffered from illegal logging even before the full-scale invasion.
The expert says that this joint initiative to restore forest belts is intended to draw the attention of lawmakers to the problem and help develop mechanisms for financing such activities.
“This project is a significant addition to the systematic work of local authorities, landowners, and farmers, without which large-scale post-war green recovery of Ukraine will be impossible,” says Shcherbak.
In late March, EcoPolitic reported that, according to the European Commission's Joint Research Center, Ukraine experienced the worst fire season in its history in 2024 due to the war.
