The State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine proposes to introduce “logging for research purposes”, for which it will be enough to obtain only the approval of a scientific institution.
This was reported by experts of the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group (UNPG). They said that during his public report on March 6, the head of the State Forestry Agency, Viktor Smal, announced a meeting between the ministries scheduled for next week to agree on changes to the logging rules.
This refers to the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Certain Issues of Special Use of Forest Resources” published on February 17.
The purpose of this document is to regulate the issue of logging for research purposes, preparatory work for the special use of forest resources, and to eliminate legislative contradictions with the Forest and Tax Codes of Ukraine and other legislative acts.
What is the problem?
According to the members of the UPG, the proposed changes relate to two main aspects:
- To introduce “logging for research purposes”.
“Now it will be enough for them to get the approval of a scientific institution – and that's it: they will be able to cut anything and everything in 1% of forests, without any rules and without limiting the volume,” the environmentalists say.
- To allow logging to bypass the forest management procedure, and therefore without public discussion and without the approval of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
The UHF says that foresters do not hide the fact that they need this resolution to increase timber harvesting and “access to the resource.”
“That is, in fact, in order to cut down where logging was previously restricted,” the experts explain.
Therefore, the members of the UPG called on the Ministry of Ecology to urgently intervene in the situation and prevent the adoption of new logging rules.
Hidden risks contained in the draft resolution
Experts from WWF-Ukraine have also reviewed the draft resolution and believe that the proposed changes can close a number of gaps in the current forestry legislation.
However, in their opinion, the document contains provisions that pose potential risks to sustainable forest management and biodiversity protection. Therefore, WWF-Ukraine appealed to the State Forestry Agency with a proposal to make the following changes and additions to the draft resolution:
1. Clearly define the list of types of logging and activities (clause 4) that are planned exclusively during forest management, due to their high potential impact on forest cover.
2. Restrict logging and measures for the formation and rehabilitation of forests, other logging and forestry-related activities for research purposes, except for the territories and objects of the nature reserve fund of Ukraine, virgin forests, quasi-virgin forests and natural forests, as well as for specially protected forest areas and other forests where logging is prohibited. Experts propose to apply the same rule to paragraph 5 of the Rules for the main use of logging in the mountain forests of the Carpathians.
“This will reduce or eliminate the risks of obtaining timber from forest areas that are not intended for exploitation,” they say.
3. Clarify the mechanism of calculation of “1% of the total area of the permanent forest user”, taking into account the fact of merger of branches of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”.
4. Clarify (clause 12) that the size of felling should not exceed the standards established by the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment”.
5. To add the following grounds to the grounds for making a decision to refuse to issue a logging ticket: “Detection of the fact of the location of rare and endangered species of flora and fauna listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, which are not indicated in forest management documentation and other documents.”
Earlier, EcoPolitic reported that in Zakarpattia, according to media reports, foresters are massively cutting down forests to build an illegal road.
We also told you that Ukraine has started to clean up the situation with self-forested areas.
