The Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources has approved a list of alien, i.e. invasive, species of trees that are prohibited from being planted for the creation and restoration of forests and field protection strips.
Already planted trees of these species will not be cut down, the Ministry of Environment reports on Facebook.
It is noted that the List includes 13 species, namely:
- Aralia Manchurian;
- elm is low;
- spiky thorn;
- black walnut;
- red oak;
- western frame;
- ash maple;
- narrow-leaved olive;
- paulownia (species and hybrids);
- common robinia;
- late cherry;
- Pennsylvania ash.
thorny thorn
The report emphasized that alien species of trees are capable of changing or destroying entire ecosystems. With no natural enemies in new territories, invasive species multiply rapidly, occupying space and displacing native species from natural landscapes.
It is noted that by 2021 Ukraine lacked a comprehensive approach to solving this issue.
"Three million hectares of forests in Ukraine have been damaged by Russian aggression and need to be restored. The approval of the List of Invasive Species is a historic environmental protection step that will allow the restoration of climate-resistant forests with high protective properties and without aggressive alien species in Ukraine," said the Minister of environment and natural resources protection Ruslan Strilets.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that in February 2023, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources created a working group that was supposed to compile a list of invasive (alien) tree species.
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the European Commission filed an appeal to the European Court of Justice against Bulgaria, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Latvia and Portugal for the spread of invasive (alien) species of plants and animals.
