A village council in Ivano-Frankivsk region attempted to remove more than 4,300 hectares of the Carpathian National Park from state ownership through the courts. Timely intervention by the specialized environmental prosecutor's office and a decision by the Supreme Court of Ukraine prevented the loss of land belonging to the nature reserve.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
The Zelenka village council initiated a legal dispute to illegally seize land belonging to the nature reserve fund. The village council attempted to revoke the state act on permanent use of the land for the Carpathian National Park.
Prosecutors intervened in the case at the stage of consideration in the court of first instance to prevent the loss of valuable nature conservation lands from state ownership.
The Supreme Court upheld the position of the prosecutor's office and left unchanged the decisions of the previous courts, which denied the village council's claim. The court agreed that the state act on the right to permanent use of the land was issued legally and that the lands of the nature reserve fund cannot be transferred to private or communal ownership.
The absence of clear boundaries creates opportunities for abuse
The prosecutor's office points to the main prerequisite for the alienation of land in nature reserves and national parks. Their boundaries are not established in kind, and their reflection in the land cadastre often does not correspond to reality.
This creates risks of losing state-protected natural areas, destroying unique ecosystems, and reducing forest areas.
Systematic attempts to appropriate protected lands
Almost 26,000 land plots have been registered in violation of the boundaries of the protected fund—they overlap with nature conservation lands or are located entirely within their territory. These are data from the State Land Cadastre Center for the last 18 months alone.
"Each such case will be legally assessed and appropriate measures will be taken, ranging from criminal proceedings to lawsuits, with the aim of returning illegally alienated land to state ownership," the prosecutor's office emphasizes.
