A petition calling for urgent measures to preserve the nature and cultural heritage of the Ukrainian Carpathians gathered the required 25,000 signatures a month ago. The President of Ukraine responded by forwarding the issue to Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov.
This was reported by the civic initiative “Holka.”
“I have approached the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, with a proposal to ensure a review of the issues raised in the electronic petition through the involvement of the relevant local executive authorities and to take appropriate response measures, and also to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Umerov, with a request to ensure the consideration of this matter and, if necessary, to prepare, with the involvement of the relevant state bodies, materials and draft decisions for consideration at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine,” reads the President’s response.
The author of the petition-serviceman and environmentalist Andriy Tupikov-noted after reading the response that, unfortunately, addressing the Cabinet of Ministers will not yield the desired result.
“The petition was refused registration four times, supposedly because it was not under the President’s authority. But this is not the case. There was no point in turning to the government, since we saw the government giving the green light to wind turbines. I thank the President for the quick response, but I expected more decisiveness. In essence, the request was delegated to the Cabinet,” emphasized the eco-activist.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the petition was a response by the environmental community to the construction of wind power plants in the highlands of the Carpathians, which involves the destruction of primeval forest patches and the felling of trees to build infrastructure.
One of the demands of the environmental community is the urgent submission of a draft law that would regulate special conditions for the sustainable development of the Carpathians. Among the proposals is also a ban on interventions in the ecosystems of high-mountain and valuable territories, as well as the granting of environmental protection status to these lands. In particular, the importance is stressed of establishing reserves such as “Polonyna Hostra”, “Polonyna Krasna”, “Vilnyi Svydivets”, “Polonyna Apetska”, “Polonyna Bychkiv”, “Liutianska Holytsia”, and “Verkhovynskyi Watershed Ridge.”
