Virtual parks

Following the administrative reform several governmental institutions were abolished, including the State Service for Protected Areas. Consequently, there’s nobody to solve the problems of Ukraine’s national parks and reserves. The Day has repeatedly written about the problems in this sphere. For a long time ecologists have warned about the illegal organization of private hunting grounds in the reserves, and the construction of dachas there. Protected areas in the flood plains are particularly tasty morsels — their beautiful landscapes attract many constructors.

The governmental program for the creation of a national ecological network provides for the preservation and extension of protected territories. It prescribes that at the end of 2015 nature reserves are to cover 10.4 percent of the country’s area. At present they account for slightly more than five percent. During Viktor Yushchenko’s presidency several decrees were issued to create more than 30 new parks and reserves in different regions of Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian Ecological League asserts that some 20 national parks exist only on paper, while trees continue to be cut down and animals hunted on their territories. In order to stave off disaster the Ukrainian Ecological League, the National Ecological Center of Ukraine and the Group for the Environment Protection “The Green Future” have written an open letter to Viktor Yanukovych asking him to ensure that the State Service for Protected Areas addresses the situation. For further information read The Day’s interview with the head of the National Ecological Center of Ukraine Ihor SIRENKO.

What pushed the ecological society to send an open letter to the president?

“A lot of people worked on the decrees on the creation of new parks and reserves in 2008-10. The real precedent was the creation of several dozens of reserves, mainly national parks, in one year. However, those decrees only stated that the creation of those parks was to be launched, developed and financed from the budget. At the beginning of last year those decrees were openly sabotaged by both the government and the forestries. In several regions businesspeople and local deputies worked on the abolishment of those decrees. Thus, the Siversky Donets national park’s status was invalidated by a court with breaches of the litigation procedure. According to the law, the president has to be represented in the court by the Ministry of Justice, but in that case the Presidential Administration just stood by. It was initiated by foresters and local deputies who wanted to cut down the trees and build dachas. The national reserve Biloberezhia Sviatoslava on the Kinburska spit is being intensively attacked. Previously it was quite a large regional landscape park. The foresters agreed to allocate a much smaller area for the reserve and now they are demanding that this park be subordinated not to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, but to them. It means that they will be able to do anything they want there. The problem of this object is that the foresters plant trees that should not be there. There are natural forests (oak, birch and alder), but the foresters plow the sand steppe territories and plant pines that take root poorly there. Those territories are extremely valuable as they contain many endemic plants, including endangered ones. Kyiv oblast is very problematic as it is behind in the number of protected objects. The former president decided that three residences in Kyiv oblast have to be transformed into national nature parks. Those objects belong to the public administration, openly flaunting the presidential decrees. The problem is that national nature parks and reserves were mostly subordinated to the Government Reserve Service.”

But it has been liquidated…

“Yes, it has, but there are also parks that report to the Governmental Forestries Committee, some of them report to the Ministry of Education, Science Youth and Sports. The Government Service didn’t only manage its objects, but also monitored other departments so that they take the corresponding measures on their objects. But the administrative reform decree has abolished this service. One of the considered options is that it’s functions will be partially assumed by the special department under the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. However, it won’t be able to perform all the duties of the former Government Service — the recreation work and the ecological educational events will be problematic.”

Now you’re insisting on the resumption of the Government Service’s work, or the creation of a new agency. However, if protected areas were stolen when it worked and the situation got even worse after it had been abolished, will the new institution be able to fully perform its duties?

“Being an NGO, we have the least of complaints about the activities of the Government Reserve Service. They did what they could. We have complaints to the Government Forestries Committee, to local deputies that want to have their personal hunting grounds instead of the reserves, to local authorities that could carry out the presidential decrees and not ignore them. There was a case in Ternopil oblast where the local authorities were sabotaging the creation of the national nature park Dnistrovsky Canyon. Shortly after we found out the reason for this: the head of Borshchiv district administration received a bribe. He allocated the people’s protected areas to individual farms.”

Keeping in mind all those problems, will we be able to execute the governmental program that provides for the extension of the protected areas by up to 10 percent?

“It’s a difficult question. If they lift the moratorium on agricultural land sales, and will sell the lands, including lands from the reserve that aren’t privatized in several regions and where the nature reserves have to be created, the execution of this program will be minimal. However, if we don’t have an institution that would deal with this on the governmental level, the execution of this program will be even more problematic.”

What can the society and ecological organizations do to avoid the destruction of protected areas, taking into account that even in Kyiv oblast, which should serve as an example, it’s impossible to introduce proper order?

“Our organization is currently preparing a petition about this, earlier we submitted it to the Government Service, but now there’s no place to submit it. That is why we wrote this letter to the president. When the municipal planning law was adopted and society addressed the president, and he received many letters and protest actions were held near the Administration. Viktor Yanukovych returned this law to the Parliament for improvement. We hope that the president will react to our petition as well. What is more, in the corridors they speculate about a second life for the former Government Reserve Service.”