The Minister of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Ruslan Strelets, together with the Minister of the Environment of the Republic of Moldova, Sergio Lazarenko, visited forestry in Zhytomyr Oblast.
Moldovan colleagues are interested in the Ukrainian experience in changing approaches to industry management. After all, the reform in Ukraine is carried out taking into account the best European approaches.
Ministers inspected a number of locations - from recreation centers, a forest seed center and a forest nursery, the construction of which was completed already during the war, to intermediate warehouses for the sale of wood, a forest fire station and areas of forest crops.
“Forest industry in Ukraine is no longer subsidized and even more – it pays heavy taxes to the state budget. The profit of SE "Lisa Ukrainy" for the first half of 2024 is UAH 11.14 billion. No logging ticket or certificate of wood origin is currently issued on paper. We converted them into digital, and in fact ensured the traceability of wood circulation from the place of harvest to sale for export. Now every cubic meter of forest is electronically recorded. Over 42,500 certificates and almost 74,000 logging tickets have already been issued through the system," said Ruslan Strelets.
Also, the implementation of the program of the President of Ukraine "Green Country", which provides for the planting of 1 billion new trees in 5 years, continues. More than 608.6 million or 60.9% of the planned amount have already been planted.
The process of transferring self-forested forests to the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" is ongoing. From 2023, the transfer of 50,000 hectares to Ukraine has been agreed. This is an opportunity to increase the area and preserve our forests - the "lungs" and "natural shield of the country". Today, forests are particularly vulnerable, as hostilities provoke fires and destruction of ecosystems. 2.4 million hectares of Ukrainian forests have already been freed from occupation and need restoration.
“Moldova is interested in our experience of implementing the reform, because European integration is impossible without European forestry standards. This reform is exemplary for transforming a subsidized industry into a profitable one. That is why we exchange experience with our colleagues and pave a common path to the EU," Ruslan Strilets emphasized.
