In Transcarpathia, the Yasinyan forest farm in its management plan for the next 10 years planned to increase the annual volume of felling for main use by 45%, of which 80% is continuous.
The planned annual volume will reach 108,000 m3, which is 55% more than in the previous ten-year plan, reports the "Ukrainian Environmental Protection Group" on Facebook.
It is noted that continuous felling is also planned in mixed spruce forests, which directly contradicts the current felling rules.
Eco-activists said that most of the felling is sanitary, in particular in ancient forests. In particular, they plan to cut down 172-year-old trees, that is, the remains of the most valuable Carpathian forests, which are almost gone.
They emphasized that they plan to carry out felling in primeval forests, where they are prohibited.
"Part of anti-erosion forests mysteriously turned into exploitation forests. That is, during forest management, the Yasinyan forest farm decided that part of the forests, which were previously supposed to prevent mudslides, floods, and avalanches, can be reclassified into forests with practically no restrictions on felling," the authors emphasized.
Eco-activists suggested that the new management plan appeared in public access at the last moment, even though this is a violation of the law.
It is noted that the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources has not yet approved this management plan. UPG activists appealed to the ministry about this.
The authors emphasized that the Yasinyan forest farm is only one of many in the Ukrainian Carpathians. There are risks that other forest farms have similar plans.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that Yuliya Yatsyk, a member of the People's Deputy and a member of the Temporary Investigative Commission on Illegal Cutting of Forests in Zakarpattia regiob, suspected officials from the region's Prosecutor's Office of being involved in forest mafia schemes.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the National Commission for UNESCO was offered to consider the possibility of adding a new serial transnational object "Primitive forests and ancient coniferous upper mountain forests of the Carpathians" to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
