The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine will set up a working group to implement the provisions on the identification of self-forested areas and their inclusion in the forest fund of Ukraine.
This recommendation was made by the Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management at its meeting on March 3.
In 3 months, the Ministry of Ecology should inform the environmental committee about the results of the group's work.
The deputies also instructed the Ministry and the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine to intensify their work on the possible transfer of forestry land by executive authorities or local governments for permanent use to specialized state or municipal forestry enterprises, other state and municipal enterprises, institutions and organizations with specialized units for forestry.
What's the problem?
These decisions were made after MPs and invited participants discussed the need to amend part two of Article 107 of the Forest Code of Ukraine. It stipulates that damage caused to a forest that has not been granted for use must be compensated by the local government on whose territory the forest is located, if the persons responsible for causing the damage have not been identified.
The committee said that in connection with the application of the above provision, they had received 65 appeals from local governments. Their representatives were invited to the committee meeting.
The Association of Ukrainian Cities was among those who opposed this provision in the legislation.
“As a result of this provision, territorial communities will be financially liable without fault for other people's actions or inaction. In addition, the implementation of this provision may deprive territorial communities of ownership of land under forest plantations,” the Association wrote in a letter to the head of the Environmental Committee, Oleh Bondarenko.
Representatives of the cities also believe that part two of Article 107 violates the constitutional principles of justice and guarantees of local self-government, and encourages
- inaction of law enforcement agencies to find those responsible for causing damage to the forest, illegal deforestation;
- incentives to commit new offenses, as the perpetrators are not held accountable for their actions;
- increasing social injustice by punishing the innocent.
“According to court practice, local communities are charged for the damage caused to the forest as a result of illegal deforestation without law enforcement agencies searching for offenders,” the letter states.
Therefore, the Association of Ukrainian Cities proposed to the head of the environmental committee to introduce a bill that would protect the interests of territorial communities and provided the relevant draft amendments to the Forest Code. The second part of Article 107 of the Forest Code is absent from the draft.
There is already a precedent: On November 11, 2024, the Economic Court of Rivne region upheld the claim of the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Polissia District to recover from the Dubrovytsia City Council the damage caused to the environment by illegal logging by unidentified persons in the amount of more than UAH 4.9 million.
What is the opinion of experts
Petro Testov, Head of the Analytical Department at the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, who regularly deals with the protection and preservation of Ukrainian forests, attended the meeting of the environmental committee and shared his impressions on his Facebook page. In his opinion, communities do not like being forced to protect no-man's land and self-sown forests. He said that they do not want to transfer community forests to the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” and do not want to create communal enterprises for protection either.
“It is now obvious to me that the pressure to abolish this article is based on the desire to continue to profit from illegal logging in no-man's land and destroy self-sown forests for plowing,” the expert concluded after listening to the arguments made by community representatives.
Petro Testov also noted that the Ministry of Ecology, the State Forestry Agency, and especially the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office “spoke out in defense of forests professionally, with figures and facts.”
Earlier, EcoPolitic reported that the Ecology Committee will consider this issue of compensation for illegal logging on lands not provided for use at its meeting on March 3.
