In Ukraine, as of January 1, 2023, 3.52% of the territories planned by the State Strategy for Regional Development have been bequeathed.
The success of the bequest is a maximum of 2% of the required pace of work in this direction, reports the Ukrainian environmental protection group.
Eco-activists emphasized that the creation of new objects of the nature reserve fund (NPF) is one of the most effective mechanisms for the protection of valuable natural territories. After all, any other status of the territory or restrictions do not guarantee that it will be preserved or protected.
They emphasized that the Strategy envisages that by 2030 the share of NPF should reach 15% of the area of Ukraine. However, the implementation of these ambitious plans is not at the proper level.
The material said that as of the beginning of 2023, the indicators of the creation of protected areas amounted to 46.1% of the plans announced by the state. In 2021, the bequest rates decreased by three times compared to 2020. Thus, in 2021, more than 10,000 hectares of NPF were created, which is 3.6% of the plan of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources.
Eco-activists emphasized that in 2022 this indicator was 2% of what should be created according to the Strategy until 2030.
"In order to achieve the goals of the Strategy only by 2030 (15%), it is necessary to additionally dedicate 4.89 million hectares of territories, which is 8.1% of the area of Ukraine," they emphasized.
It is noted that in the conditions of a full-scale war, some regions did not create new nature conservation areas. Including:
- Khersonska;
- Zaporizhzhia;
- Luhanska;
- Kharkivska;
- Mykolayivska;
- Vinnytska;
- Sumska;
- Ivano-Frankivska;
- Dnipropetrovska;
- Khmelnytska.
The authors added that nature conservation areas were not created in Crimea and Sevastopol during the annexation.
It is noted that in the Rivne region in 2022, 25,147 hectares of territories were bequeathed, i.e. half of all new ones. Kyiv region is the leader in terms of the number of protected areas created – 33 objects.
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Eco-activists explained that the significant increase in the area of NPF in 2022 is due to the fact that at the beginning of 2022, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the Decrees on the creation of new national natural parks (Pushcha Radzyvila, Kuyalnytskyi, Kholodnyi Yar), on the expansion of existing NPPs (Vyzhnytskyi, Meotida) and on expanding the territory of the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve. The area of the "Staromanzyrskyi" nature reserve of national significance in Odesa region was also expanded.
However, part of the newly created protected areas is currently under occupation. For example, in Donetsk region, it is a landscape reserve of local importance "Novotroitskyi" (140 ha) and "Meotida" (500 ha).
The authors emphasized that in 2022, 535.5 hectares of NPF lost their protected status, in particular in Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa regions.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in the European Commission's analytical report on Ukraine's ability to fulfill the conditions of EU membership in the environmental protection cluster, the country received the lowest score – 1 out of a possible 5.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, Bukovel LLC plans to build 2 more megaresorts in the Carpathians, in addition to the "Svydovets" resort, namely "Bystrytsia" and "Turbat" with a size of 1,400 hectares.
