EcoPolitic has collected for its readers the 5 most significant cases of environmental damage reported by the press services of prosecutors' offices and the State Ecological Inspectorate of Ukraine during the week of January 4-10.
1. Two poachers from Kamianets district, Khmelnytskyi region, were sentenced to 1 year of imprisonment with a probationary period of 1 year and 6 months for illegal fishing. During the spawning season in April 2024, the accomplices caught almost 600 fish and 55 crayfish from the Zharnivka River in the Novoushytska territorial community. Among the catch, the inspectors found the Red Book verizub of the Black Sea. The court also ordered the offenders to compensate for environmental damage in the amount of UAH 1.3 million.
2. An employee of a branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” together with two accomplices will be tried for misappropriation of timber products. In the logging ticket, he deliberately underestimated the amount of wood that was to be received after the work. This resulted in more than 110 cubic meters of unaccounted for timber.
Photo: chk.gp.gov.ua.
Photo: chk.gp.gov.ua.
Dilky processed it into firewood and sold it for cash to the local population in the Cherkasy district. They divided the received funds among themselves.
3. Prosecutors directed to the court the case regarding the clearing brigade consisting of a forester and two forest masters of the Nyiziv Forestry of the "Sumy Forestry" branch of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine". They incorrectly established the limits of the forest felling for sanitary selective felling of trees damaged by pests and emergency trees: they took trees from an adjacent area of the forest to the felling, for the development of which a felling ticket was not issued. As a result, in September-December 2023, loggers felled trees that grew within the boundaries of the object of the nature reserve fund, guided by the designation of the logging brigade.
Eco-inspectors estimated that the official negligence of foresters caused damage in the amount more than 760 thousand UAH.
4. To a 56-year-old resident of Kyiv region reported on the suspicion of large-scale illegal extraction of minerals of local importance on the territory of the Vyshhorod Territorial Community near the village of Khotyanivka In September 2023, he organized a scheme of illegal sand extraction with the help of special equipment – an excavator and a dump truck – with a total volume of 1,439 cubic meters. m.
Photo: kobl.gp.gov.ua.
Photo: kobl.gp.gov.ua.
Photo: kobl.gp.gov.ua.
By his actions, the man caused damage to the state in the amount of almost 900 thousand UAH. For the offense committed, the offender faces up to 8 years of imprisonment.
5. Eco-inspectors of the Dnipro District calculated the damages in the amount more than 504 thousand UAHfor catching aquatic biological resources with prohibited fishing gear by unidentified persons in the water area of the river. Velyka Vys near the village. Kamianka within the limits of the Novomyrhorod territorial community of the Novoukrainian district of the Kirovohrad region. They sent materials about the commission of a criminal offense to law enforcement agencies.
You can read the previous digest published by EcoPolitics at link. Then several officials who were supposed to be engaged in environmental protection were discovered, but used their position for enrichment.
