Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources refused to approve the mining of amber in the "Kopyshchanska" area in the Zhytomyr region, which is surrounded by the Polish Reserve and the "Urochyshche Gala" reserve.
The quarry for dozens of hectares was supposed to be located on a site that would be impossible to reach without passing through protected areas, reports the "Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group" on Facebook.
It is noted that amber was planned to be mined on the reclaimed floodplain of the partially waterlogged Zholobnytsia River, which was overgrown with self-seeding forest.
Eco-activists emphasized that the industrial extraction of amber in the middle of protected areas would lead to catastrophic consequences for nature.
They said that they learned about the quarry on the website of the State Geology and Subsoil Service and contacted the Ministry of Environment.
"And they listened to us. However, this does not mean that the nadroviks will forget about their plans. There have already been cases when, after the public's interest disappeared, ministry officials gave approval to previously rejected cases, such as, for example, with the "Syra Pogonya" swamp, – the UPG noted.
Eco-activists added that the State Geological Survey has stopped publishing the names of deposits that are planned to be put up for auction. Therefore, further nature protection will require more attention.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that on the border of the Rivne Nature Reserve, it was planned to start amber mining in the area of the largest swamp massifs of Ukraine, Syr Pogon. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources agreed to put the site up for auction, although it had previously agreed to bequeath this territory.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, in the autumn of 2023, in the Rivne region, they plan to manually plant 50 hectares of forest on areas damaged by illegal amber mining.
