Conservationists call on the government to grant a protective status to the entire water area adjacent to Zmiiny Island and its entire territory, which is home to hundreds of rare and red-listed species of animals and plants.
Most of the Zmiiny square was burned and was hit by powerful rockets, reports the "Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group – UNCG" on Facebook.
A part of the island and its water area have had the status of a national zoological reserve of national importance since 1998. It included a part of the island with an adjacent 500-meter water area of the Black Sea with a total area of 232 hectares.
On the territory of the island, biologists have identified 197 species of flowering plants, 71 species of lichens, 241 species of birds, 2 species of reptiles, 3 species of amphibians and more than 300 species of invertebrates. Almost 70 species are included in the Red Book of Ukraine. In some years, up to 45% of migratory bird species of Ukraine and neighboring Eastern European countries rest on the island. In the sea area near the island there are 58 species of fish (of which 12 are listed in the Red Book), 3 species of dolphins and 6 species of crabs, 4 of which are also from the Red Book.
For many years, there was a scientific research station on the territory of the island, where students of biology were trained. More than a hundred biological works and books have been written about the island.
The material noted that the nature of the island has been greatly affected, and therefore the species lists for many groups that met on the island before will be significantly smaller from 2022.
Environmentalists are also calling for the creation of new territories of nature reserves in the Odesa region, in particular in those few places where ecosystems similar to those affected on Zmiiny are preserved: rocks and steppes.
"We invite scientists and activists of public organizations to develop proposals for the creation of new territories of the nature reserve fund in Odesa," UNCG noted.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that the most valuable natural habitats of the Buzky Gard National Park were located in the Mykolaiv Oblast at risk of flooding due to the plans of NPP Energoatom to raise the level of the Oleksandriv reservoir.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the Kyiv City Council supported the decision to create a landscape reserve on both slopes of Protasiv Yar, for which public figure Roman Ratushny fought.
