Draft law No. 9516 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Effective Forest Management Based on Forestry on the Principles of Close-to-Nature Forestry Adapted to Climate Change, and Conservation of Forest Biodiversity”, which was supposed to cancel the environmental impact assessment for clear-cutting, has been removed from the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada this week.
This was reported by representatives of the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group (UNPG).
Following widespread publicity given by environmentalists and eco-activists to the draft law by MP from the Servant of the People party Oleksandr Matusevych and the corruption mechanism it contains, it was withdrawn from consideration.
As a reminder, this draft law abolishes the EIA procedure for clearance felling for areas of less than 10 hectares. Environmental activists warned that this is actually tantamount to abolishing EIA in principle.
"This draft law is a disaster for the forests of Ukraine, the Carpathians will be especially affected. After all, he cancels the EIA for felling", – this was the opinion expressed by UPG experts.
Experts also warned that this draft law contains a corruption mechanism that will allow unscrupulous foresters to pocket a 2,400% margin for the received wood.
Environmental protection organizations and eco-activists opposed the adoption of this legislative initiative. They also asked citizens to appeal to the deputies with a request not to support draft law No. 9516. They also provided an algorithm for how to do it.
Among those who spoke against, in particular, were:
- World Wildlife Fund WWF-Ukraine
- Ukrainian nature protection group
- NGO "Ekodia"
- an ecologist with 22 years of experience, and now an instructor of the ZSU Anatoly Pavelko
In March, EсoPolitiс reported that the parliamentary ecological committee voted for draft law #9516.
We also told details of the corruption scheme, which this draft law will make possible to implement, as well as cited the arguments of its author – Oleksandr Matusevich – with which he explains the need for adoption.
