Environmentalists criticized the decision of the Scientific and Technical Council of the Karmelyukovo Podillya National Nature Park, the only one in Vinnytsia, to set limits on felling, in particular sanitary and recreational ones.
The developers of the initiative argued for the need for felling by the fact that Ukraine needs firewood during the war, reports the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group – UNCG on Facebook.
The only document that guided the developers of the scientific justification of such fellings is the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers about the approval of sanitary regulations in the forests of Ukraine.
"The membership of forest communities in the Green Book of Ukraine was not taken into account, for which, by the way, the regime of absolute protection is provided for in it. It was also not mentioned that the forest biotopes common in these areas are protected at the European level, as they are included in Resolution 4 of the Berne Convention, and Ukraine has undertaken to protect them," UNCG writes.
The environmentalists noted that some individual employees of the national park and representatives of the Haysyn Forestry do not take into account the difference between a national park and a forest farm.
"One gets the impression that for them the national park is only a source of firewood... The position of the district leadership is also interesting, and instead of looking for alternative ways of energy supply, it calls on scientists to get into position and agree on limits," the article says.
Although the war is not a reason for the destruction of Ukraine's nature, the situation is relevant for many forest national parks and reserves, despite the fact that civil society and foreign partners are making incredible efforts to preserve the natural heritage.
Although almost all biological scientists in the scientific and technical council voted against the work on setting limits, the decision was made by a majority vote.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that Ukrainian forest farms are ready to provide the necessary amount of alternative fuel, in particular chips and firewood, without harming the forests for modular mobile boiler houses.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, environmentalists call on the government to provide protection status for Zmiiny Island, the entire water area adjacent to the island and its entire territory, for the preservation of hundreds of rare and red book species of animals and plants.
