The Department of Nature Reserve Fund of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine is headed by Edgar Tokar, who has neither specialized education nor experience in the environmental sector.
The Ministry of Environment informed the staff about the introduction of the new head.
EcoPolitics asked how professional this appointment is. Here is the information we managed to find about Edgar Tokar:
Year of birth: 1987.
Place of birth: Mukachevo.
Age: 38 years old.
Education:
- 2002-2005 – Higher Vocational School No. 3 in Mukachevo. He received a complete general secondary education and a diploma of a skilled worker in the profession of an accountant (registration of accounting data), a computer operator;
- in 2010, he graduated from the Kyiv National University of Internal Affairs with a degree in Law.
Career:
- 2005-2014 – engaged in entrepreneurial activities;
- 2015-2020 – Member of the Executive Committee of the Lalivka Village Council;
- 2020 – elected as a deputy of the Transcarpathian Regional Council of the 8th convocation;
- April 2021 – March 2024 – Head of the Mukachevo District State Administration;
- November 21, 2024 – February 28, 2025 – worked as the director of the Transcarpathian Regional Employment Center.
Olena Mudra, an investigative journalist from Zakarpattia, expressed her opinion on this appointment on Facebook:
“It is very likely that this is a new incompetent appointment to strengthen the Ministry of Environment's 'opposition' to the eco-community, which is behind the scenes opposing the latter in their efforts to protect the protected Carpathian highlands from destruction by construction work for hundreds of windmills and the reference mountain rivers from development with cascades of hydroelectric power plants,” she said.
At public events organized by the Ministry of Environment, its head Svitlana Hrynchuk often complains that the ministry's small staff has a very large amount of work to do, including European integration. Therefore, it is a natural surprise when officials without relevant education and experience in this area are appointed to senior positions – will this add to the efficiency of the team?
EcoPolitic sent a request to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources to find out about the ministry's staffing table for 2025, as well as the areas of responsibility of the deputy ministers in the ministry's areas of work. Expect this material in the near future.
As EcoPolitic reported on January 24, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine accepted the resignation of the First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Olena Kramarenko. At the time, environmental activists assumed that this dismissal could be due to the fact that the official had signed an order to suspend the EIA procedure for the construction of windmills in the Runa valley in Zakarpattia the day before.
In January, EcoPolitic prepared a list of draft documents that the Ministry of Environment plans to work on in 2025.
