State Forest Resources Agency is fighting for 2 mln ha of self-forested territories
The area of self-seeded forests that have emerged on predominantly agricultural lands, which for various reasons have not been managed for decades, amounts to about 2 million hectares in Ukraine. These forests are included by the European Union in the indicator of Ukraine’s forest cover and must be preserved, said Viktor Smal, Head of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine.
"We have begun efforts to protect self-seeded territories because farmers are starting to plow them… So far, we have managed to save about 65,000 hectares out of these 2 million hectares. In reality, this is a huge area: for comparison, the approximate area of the annual calculated logging from the 7 million hectares of forests we use is about 35,000 hectares," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Smal clarified that the State Forest Fund of Ukraine covers 10.4 million hectares, of which 9.6 million hectares are forested (the rest are unsuitable for afforestation, such as wetlands). Based on this figure, Ukraine’s forest cover is 15.9%, but when accounting for the 2 million hectares of self-seeded forests, it approaches 19-20%.
"This is exactly the figure the European Union uses for Ukraine; it will refer to it when it begins monitoring our products under the new EUDR rules (EU Deforestation Regulation). Therefore, it is very important to preserve this indicator," emphasized the head of the State Forest Resources Agency.
According to him, the law currently favors farmers: the community must show goodwill by voting in a session of the village or city council to recognize that a plot is self-seeded and transfer it to state use or a relevant municipal enterprise.
According to the State Forest Resources Agency, as of September 12, its territorial bodies – the Interregional Directorates of Forestry and Hunting – submitted requests to local self-government authorities to classify land plots as "self-seeded" with a total area of 1,902,700 hectares, but positive decisions were made for only 57,500 hectares.
In turn, state enterprises of the State Forest Resources Agency submitted requests to communities for the permanent use of self-seeded land plots totaling 138,900 hectares and received positive responses for 30,500 hectares.
According to Smal, the state enterprise Forests of Ukraine, which is the largest forest user in the country, assumes all costs for preparing the necessary documentation and ensures proper management of self-seeded forests – including protection from fires and illegal logging – if the community is willing.