The decree of President Volodymyr Zelensky on planting 1 billion trees within three years will be implemented, it will be implemented on 170,000 hectares, the total cost of the project is about UAH 2 billion, Head of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine Yuriy Bolokhovets has said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine. “For planting 1 billion trees, about 170,000 hectares are needed. We have already found up to 100,000 hectares of our own territories that require afforestation. These are sites of fire, areas where forests have been destroyed as a result of various factors. Another 70,000 hectares are land of local authorities, the head of the agency said.
He said that the State Forest Resources Agency proposed that the territorial communities, which land plots were in the zone of implementation of the Green Country presidential program, either plant a forest on its territory, or transfer these plots to the agency for afforestation. According to Bolokhovets, today, more than 20,000 hectares are in the process of being transferred from the communities to the enterprises of the State Forest Resources Agency.
“The second question is financing. We need UAH 2 billion for three years. I am absolutely sure that the forest industry, due to going from the shadows and more efficient work, is able to earn this money itself. And we will do it,” the head of the agency said.
Bolokhovets said that planting 1 billion trees is necessary to minimize the effects of global climate change, create protective belts of trees to protect against dust storms, as well as increase the country’s forest cover from the current 15.9% to the minimum required 20%.
The head of the State Forest Resources Agency also noted the increase in the procurement of seed material for forest reproduction several times. His agency is also creating infrastructure for large-scale seeding and building nurseries for growing quality planting material.
“This year we have already significantly increased the planting in comparison with previous years. Next year, we will at least double the planting. I am absolutely convinced that we will implement the President’s task,” Bolokhovets said.
PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE, PRESIDENT ZELENSKY, STATE FOREST RESOURCES AGENCY, TREES
The State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine has said that it is necessary to annul a moratorium on export of unprocessed logs imposed in 2015.
“It is necessary to lift the moratorium, give a free market for logs – this will stimulate price growth and the work of our industry enterprises, and not only those that are coordinated by the State Forest Resources Agency. This will give an impetus to the development of the economy,” Deputy Head of the State Forest Agency Volodymyr Bondar said in a statement of the agency.
According to him, the moratorium on the export of unprocessed logs in the form it was accepted did not give an economic breakthrough, and created a “criminal situation for the state’s economy” in the issue of logs.
“Forestry enterprises today have the remains of 1.2 million cubic meters of logs. We have reduced logging, because we cannot sell what was logged in Ukraine,” Bondar said.
He said that if the legislator wanted to stock logs and give impetus to the development of local business, then this had to be done not through a ban, but through stimulating the development and deepening of processing.
“For this, it is necessary that investments come to Ukraine. Without making any decisions on creating an investment climate in Ukraine, simply banning the export of logs, this only leads to a decrease in the domestic price, a decrease in logging. We do not even remove logs, which we mark in the forest, because it does not have its own consumer,” the deputy head of the State Forest Resources Agency said.
According to Bondar, due to lower prices for logs and the inability to sell it, the question of stopping enterprises of various types arises.
