In Transcarpathia, foresters cut down a part of a forest, which is inviolable according to the current legislation, for the construction of a road.
This was stated by the environmental organization WWF-Ukraine.
Environmentalists noted that the felling was carried out despite repeated appeals of environmental organizations and the community to stop the tender for the construction of the forest road and cancel the issued logging tickets.
WWF-Ukraine provided a satellite image as of April 15, which confirms the fact that the road was built through all the allotments and quarters that were specified in the tender for its construction. This also applies to allotments 1-2 of quarter 3 of the “Shipot” forestry, which belong to the territory of prales and its buffer zone.
Source: facebook.com/wwfukraine.
Nature defenders noted that in the registry these cuttings are still labeled as “not started”, although in fact the work has already been completed.
“This is a gross violation of the law and international obligations, because the forests of the Carpathians are the national natural heritage of Ukraine, unique ecosystems, which are simply impossible to reproduce in modern conditions,” they emphasized.
Ecologists reminded that logging in the forests will lead to:
- destruction of valuable habitats;
- fragmentation of forests;
- increase of soil erosion;
- disturbance of the hydrological regime.
WWF-Ukraine demands from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”, the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine to make a legal assessment and bring the guilty parties to responsibility within the limits of their competence for violating the requirements for the protection of forests, as well as for the construction of the road in general.
According to Petr Testov, an ecologist of the Ukrainian Environmental Group, after logging in the forests, the Ukrainian forestry industry will face a “huge international scandal”. He also reminded that foresters have grossly violated the instruction, as the electronic logging system does not record timber removal from these areas, and the felling status is shown as “not started”.
Recall, EcoPolitic recently reported on the destruction of red-listed plants, in particular snow-white snowdrop, by foresters for the construction of this forest road.
