Ukraine’s State Forest Resources Agency has launched a pilot project of an electronic registry of logging permits, Viktor Melnychenko, the Director General of the agency’s Forestry Innovation and Analysis Center, has said.
“This is a register of permits that give the right to carry out business activities related to the harvesting of wood. The register of logging tickets covers the entire territory of Ukraine. We collected all the data in one place and started making it available to the public about a month ago,” Melnychenko said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Melnychenko said as of October 16 information on 27,000 issued permits for timber harvesting was published in the register.
In addition, the center presented an online map of timber felling, which also works in a pilot mode and extends to three regions, including Chernihiv, Poltava, and Rivne.
“Today we are working on a system of graphical display of logging on a map of Ukraine in three pilot regions. A month since we started uploading maps. Now we are solving a number of technical issues. By the end of the year, we plan to extend the project to all of Ukraine for enterprises of the State Forest Resources Agency,” Melnychenko said.
In addition, the center plans to launch a register of forest tickets for the industrial gathering of berries, mushrooms, honey, and medicinal herbs. The project is at the final stage of development.
Melnychenko said he expects the parliament to consider and adopt a number of legislative initiatives that will allow the distribution of the electronic wood accounting system, a register of logging and forest tickets and an online logging map for all permanent forest users who also harvest wood, regardless of subordination.
A logging ticket is permission to harvest wood and contains information about the location and volume of the workpiece. The document is issued by the regional forestry and hunting departments at the agency.
The total forest area of Ukraine is about 10.4 million hectares. The forest cover of the country is 15.9%.
Some 7.6 million ha of forests are subordinated to the State Forest Resources Agency (73% of the Forest Fund of Ukraine).
Deputy Head of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine Volodymyr Bondar has proposed that the Forestries and Wood Industry Ministry is created, the press service of the agency has reported.
“Having a separate ministry, we will be able to bring the forest industry to a high level,” Bondar said at the fourth congress of foresters of Ukraine.
He added that the State Forest Resources Agency does not have the right to initiate legislation to speed up the resolution of a number of issues, in particular, the separation of economic and control functions, the fight against illegal logging, the drying up of forests, and the creation of a timber market.
According to the deputy head of the agency, the creation of the ministry will make it possible to develop a national forest policy, conduct a forest inventory and properly finance all work in forestries.
As reported, enterprises of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine in 2018 saw UAH 466.1 million in net profit, and their net revenue rose by 23%, to UAH 16.8 billion. Enterprises of the agency logged 16.5 million cubic meters of wood and produced goods made of wood for UAH 3.139 billion.
According to the national budget for 2019, UAH 614.7 million will be provided to the State Forest Resources Agency, including UAH 462 million for forestries and hunting, protection of forests in the forest fund.
The total space of forest areas of Ukraine is almost 10.4 million hectares. The forest cover of Ukraine is 15.9%. The State Forest Resources Agency manages 7.6 million hectares of forests (73% of the forest fund of Ukraine).
Enterprises of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine sold 472,800 New Year trees in 2018 for UAH 32.8 million, Director General of the forestry innovative and analytical center of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine Viktor Melnychenko has said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that the average price of one tree was UAH 69.
“With this level of sales, enterprises of the State Forest Resources Agency grow about 15 million trees. Thus, there is no harm to society or the environment from production of trees. At the same time, the market potential is much greater: about 10 million trees, if we assume that Ukraine has 40 million people [living in the country],” Melnychenko said.
He also said that in recent years, the State Forest Resources Agency has grown more trees in pots.
