In Ukraine, in 9 months of 2022, at least 15,000 m3 of wood were illegally cut down, which caused losses of over 125 million hryvnias.
The head of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine, Yuriy Bolokhovets, talked about a number of joint measures with law enforcement officers to reduce the amount of illegal logging.
He noted that in 2021, the State Forestry Agency managed to reduce the volume of illegal felling by more than half – from 56 thousand m3 to 26 thousand m3 – thanks to:
- increasing the number of raid brigades involving law enforcement officers and providing them with transport;
- photo fixation systems (photo traps);
- mass installation of masts with video surveillance;
- cooperation with local authorities and the public – illegal woodworking enterprises – the main consumers of illegal wood – were identified.
However, due to the full-scale invasion of Russia, a significant part of the transport was handed over to the Armed Forces, and almost every 7th forester defends Ukraine from the enemy. In addition, the surveillance system is not always allowed to operate under martial law.
Bolokhovets emphasized that Dnipropetrovsk Region, Transcarpathia and Kyiv Region became the anti-leader regions in terms of the volume of illegal logging.
"Crazy demand for firewood led to the fact that criminal groups began to engage in their illegal trade," he emphasized.
Bolokhovets also said that in order to reduce the volume of illegal logging, it is planned to:
- increase the number of mobile raid groups, which currently number about 700;
- provide forest protection with transport and fuel, which is helped by European partners from Poland and other countries;
- restore the full operation of the forest video surveillance system, which makes it possible to record suspicious "activity" and respond promptly;
- work with carriers;
Sales of firewood have increased several times, and there is not enough transport of forestry enterprises. People take firewood from the warehouse with their own transport, the number of "random" trucks on forest roads has increased, which creates a risk of wood theft.
Bolokhovets plans to use Latvia's experience in the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine", where every machine that takes wood from the forest is equipped with a GPS tracker, and its movement is monitored by a dispatcher. Currently, a base of carriers and equipment is being created, which systematically works in the forests.
- solve the problem of irreversibility of punishment;
After all, more than a thousand protocols on illegal logging were drawn up during the year, but only 5% of the losses were compensated.
- reduction of opportunities for wood manipulation among employees of forestry enterprises;
Inspections and revisions are ongoing, but according to the standard, the control inspection should cover 3% of the area of the workpiece.
"This, of course, is not enough. Only modern technologies can qualitatively change the situation with the inspection of each site. Such, for example, as lidar surveying of forest areas, actually creating a 3D map of forests," said Bolokhovets.
- development of the system of electronic accounting of wood and introduction of an electronic logging ticket.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in Transcarpathia, the State Bureau of Investigation reported suspicion to an employee of the Yasinyan Forestry, who allowed illegal logging for 18 million hryvnias.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, eco-activists from the "Ukrainian Nature Protection Group" accused the forest industry of disinformation about the negative impact of old forests on biodiversity and climate change. They believe that taking advantage of the war, the Ukrainian authorities increase the amount of felling forest, primarily old, one and a half times.
