Land belonging to the nature reserve fund is once again "accidentally" becoming suitable for construction and agriculture, while poachers are fishing on an industrial scale in nature reserves.
Find out what environmental crimes were committed during the week of November 22-28 in the traditional EcoPolitics digest.
The digest is based on materials from the Office of the Prosecutor General, regional prosecutor's offices, the State Environmental Inspection, and its branches.
Subsoil
In the Kyiv region, a criminal group illegally extracted more than 14,000 cubic meters of sand. The damage to the environment amounted to almost UAH 16 million. The sand was extracted in the Obukhiv district on an area of over 1.3 hectares and immediately sold for cash. An investigation is underway to identify all those involved. Three individuals, including the head of a local company, have been notified of suspicion.
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General
Land
There were plans to build on unique gallery forests in the Odesa region. This involved approximately 11 hectares of land worth UAH 64.8 million, which had been reserved since the 1990s for the creation of the "Danube Forests" nature reserve. However, the Renii City Council decided otherwise. Without an auction and proper registration, the land was transferred for the construction of a multimodal terminal. To this end, the intended use of the land was changed, and thus the forest, home to rare animals, became a place "for the placement and operation of buildings and structures for additional transport services." Three courts agreed with the prosecutors, and the contract was declared invalid.
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General
Almost 23 hectares of protected land in Poltava region illegally ended up in the possession of a local land co-owners' association. To do this, in 2021, the association used a long-since-cancelled state act, after which it leased the land for commercial agricultural production. The prosecutor's office returned the land to the Shishatsky village council.
A residential complex instead of a meadow park. The prosecutor's office returned 7.5 hectares of recreational area worth UAH 107 million to the residents of Kharkiv. Back in 2021, the Kharkiv City Council illegally transferred the plot to a private company. As is traditional in such cases, this was done without a tender. Later, the land changed owners several times, which complicated the return of the plot.
Photo: Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office
The state reclaimed 97 hectares of water fund land in the Chernivtsi region. Prosecutors managed in court to curb the appetite of the Stavchany village council, which had registered water system lands along the Prut River as communal property.
A similar situation arose in the Khmelnytskyi region, but with forests. There, the Starokostiantyniv City Council registered more than 26 hectares of forest land as its property. The court upheld the prosecutors' claim and ordered the forests to be returned to the state.
In Lviv region, plots of land with lakes were returned to local communities. This concerns 135 hectares of land worth UAH 3.5 million within the Kutkirska community and 106 hectares worth UAH 3 million on the outskirts of Yavoriv. In both cases, the agreements with the tenants were terminated and the land was returned to the communities.
Prosecutors in Lviv region are also investigating the damage that could have been caused to the future 211-hectare Kavy nature reserve. Criminal proceedings have been opened due to the possible illegal disposal of valuable protected land.
Forests
Valuable pine instead of firewood was attempted to be transported to Romania. This large-scale smuggling scheme is being investigated in four regions. In total, it concerns 1,500 cubic meters of pine loaded into 17 freight cars. In Ukraine, the export of this timber has been banned. Despite this, a private enterprise still purchased the materials and tried to export them, passing them off as “fuel raw material.”
Source: Prosecutor General’s Office
In Zhytomyr region, over 200 trees were illegally cut down causing losses of almost 1.3 million UAH. The State Environmental Inspectorate (SEI) brought a claim against the Pulyny settlement council. Unknown persons also cut trees worth 2.1 million UAH within the Berezivka territorial community. Meanwhile, the Potiyivka village council must compensate the state over 2.5 million UAH. The community permitted the destruction of 122 oaks on its land.
Poaching
Fish worth 8.5 million UAH was caught by a resident within the “Tuzly Lagoons” National Nature Park in Odesa region. Of course, the man had no fishing permits. The case materials were sent to court.
Another 1.1 million UAH in damages was caused to the environment by fishing in the Kremenchuk Reservoir. Unknown individuals used prohibited fishing gear near the village of Nahirne in Kirovohrad region.
You can read the previous EcoPolitics digest at this link.
