Eco-activists called on the higher authorities of Ukraine to stop the transformation of the Svydovetsky massif into a ski resort.
Appropriate petition to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources was registered by the initiative group Free Svydovets.
As of Friday, January 20, the appeal was supported by 10,385 signatories out of the required 20,000.
The petition noted that the Svydovetsky massif is one of the most valuable centers of biodiversity of the Ukrainian Carpathians with a significant number of rare and red book species, fragments of Pripolonin primeval forests, endemics and relics. The massif contains unique glacial lakes and glacial landscapes that may disappear forever.
Eco-activists from "WWF-Ukraine" noted on Facebook that in order to build a ski resort with an area of 1,430 hectares, they plan to cut down more than 850 hectares of forest, in particular, part of the Pripolonin ancient forests and quasi-forests, as well as destroy the unique ancient glacial landscape. Since 2016, eco-activists and eco-protection organizations of Ukraine and Europe have been opposing such a decision.
They emphasized that the construction of the resort on Svidovka will lead to:
- loss of habitats of rare species of flora and fauna, hence the reduction of their populations or the complete disappearance of some species in this territory;
- pollution of surface and ground water (sewage sewage);
- increase in mudflows due to deforestation;
- destruction of unique landscapes.
"The new giant resort, together with Bukovel, will cause the decline of green tourism in the region, since, having significant resources, it will dominate the region and charge almost all tourists, leaving crumbs for local development. This will lead to the decline of local communities, which need support in the development of infrastructure, and not in the implementation of speculative projects," the petition says.
Eco-activists demand from the authorities:
- make the discussion process public and open;
- not to change the purpose of the lands of the Svidovets mountain massif;
- to protect Svidovets from total development;
- preserve the ecosystems of the Tisza river basin and the Svidovets highlands by creating new nature conservation areas;
- strengthen control over forestry management;
- promote the development of "green" tourism in the territories of local communities and traditional for the region types of economy.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, eco-activists of the public organization "Danube-Carpathian Program" opposed the planned construction of the Svydovets ski mega-resort in Transcarpathia. Such construction will violate 4 international environmental treaties, signed by Ukraine.
