In Kyiv, activists of the NGO (non-governmental organization) Markhalivka. Support” picketed the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, demanding the resignation of its head, Svitlana Hrynchuk.
This was reported by the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center (KECC).
The environmentalists said that the picketers opposed the head of the ministry because of her “lies, incompetence, and destruction of the Markhaliv forest.”
Photo: facebook.com/kekz.ua.
According to the activists, the last straw was the ministry's actions to deceive the Berne Convention Secretariat, which protects the Markhaliv forest as part of the international Emerald Network, as well as the ministry's illegal attempts to deprive this forest area of its Emerald Network status as such.
Photo: facebook.com/kekz.ua.
According to the KECC, the Ministry of the Environment called a big police squad.
“It was ridiculous to watch two dozen tough police guys watching over mostly elderly women picketers,” the activists emphasized.
Photo: facebook.com/kekz.ua.
They promised they would carry on with their actions against Grinchuk.
A little earlier, EcoPolitic wrote that KECC activists exposed the Ministry of Ecology for lying to the Bern Convention Secretariat about deforestation in the Markhaliv forest. Moreover, on March 18th, we reported on the environmentalists' suspicion that the Ministry of Ecology wants to exclude the Markhaliv forest from the Emerald Network.
In September 2024, EcoPolitic informed that the KECC had accused officials of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine of trying to destroy 270 hectares of the Markhalivskyi forest for the purpose of further selling the wood and making a profit of 80 million UAH.
