On Monday, June 20, the Governmen of Ukraine adopted in the second reading bill No. 5650 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts on Forest Conservation."
The corresponding decision was supported by 273 people's deputies, 20 abstained, another 68 people's deputies did not vote, reports Ministry of Natural Resources on Telegram.
The purpose of the bill is to establish the legal and organizational framework for the identification and conservation of self-seeding forests, to simplify and stimulate the procedure for afforestation, to ensure the safety of pastures and hayfields, to ensure the conservation of forests by complicating the procedure for changing the intended use of land plots for forestry purposes and other forested areas.
The draft law provides:
- determination of a mechanism for the conservation of self-seeding forests with subsequent forest management in these areas;
- conducting an inventory of areas other than arable land that were transferred from state to communal ownership in order to identify nature protection areas and take measures to preserve them;
- granting Cabinet of Ministers the right to agree on a change in the purpose of forests on lands of all categories;
- the right to provide permanent use of forests of the state form of ownership for forestry;
- introduction of a ban on the use of invasive tree species in afforestation;
- simplification of the afforestation procedure;
- simplification of the procedure for transferring privately owned lands to forestry lands if the owner wishes;
- confirmation of ownership of forests for state and municipal forestry enterprises on the basis of planning and cartographic materials of forest management;
- introduction of a mechanism for the purchase by the state of land plots to preserve the territories of the natural reserve fund and forestry.
Recall environmental activists criticized the new felling rules and called them a monument to missed opportunities.
As EcoPolicy reported earlier, the Government adopted the Waste Law.
