Since the beginning of 2026, the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has registered property rights to 1,600 hectares of natural forests and reserve lands for forestry purposes, the press service of the state-owned enterprise reported on its Telegram channel.
According to the report, these are self-forested areas that previously belonged to communities or local administrations but did not have official status and were not in use.
The largest areas of land were registered by the branches of the Polissya Forest Office (611 hectares in Rivne region) and the Central Forest Office (681 hectares in Cherkasy region).
“In the first two months of the year, the company submitted applications for another 4,700 hectares, of which more than 2,000 hectares have already received positive decisions,” the State Forestry Agency of Ukraine clarified.
The state-owned enterprise reminded that after the approval of land management documentation, the plots are transferred to the enterprise for permanent use with the corresponding registration of rights.
As reported, Ukraine has about 2 million hectares of self-forested areas that have emerged naturally on abandoned agricultural land, but the procedure for transferring them to the Forest Fund remains complicated. According to Law No. 5650, the recognition of a plot as a forest requires the voluntary consent of communities, which often prefer to lease these lands to agricultural producers for plowing in order to obtain quick tax revenues.
The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” emphasized that without official registration with the state enterprise, self-grown forests remain without proper care and fire protection. The registration of property rights makes it possible to include these areas in the state monitoring system and prevent their destruction through the economic activities of private individuals and communities.
By the end of 2024, communities had transferred 24,600 hectares of such land to state ownership, and in 2025, rights were formalized for another 9,500 hectares, of which 2,500 hectares were self-seeded forests.
