Before putting a subsurface plot up for auction, the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine (Derzhheonadra) must get approval from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources (Min dovkillia). We analyze the coordinates of these plots, and if we find they would cause significant harm to nature, we submit our comments.
In 2024, there were as many as 73 such plots. For 42 of them, ministry officials listened to our arguments and did not approve their sale at auction. This saved thousands of hectares of forests, wetlands, and coastal zones from the extraction of peat, sand, and amber.
Among the saved areas were the floodplain of the Stubla River near the Bilivske and Novozhukivske ancient settlements, as well as plots near the Rivne Nature Reserve and the Nobel National Nature Park. It’s crucial that mineral extraction activities are focused on agricultural land, not natural areas!
Unfortunately, the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources can put plots up for auction without the ministry’s permission if geological exploration was conducted there in the past—even during the Soviet era. As a result, last year, permits for extraction were sold in Busha, Makove Boloto, and the Starovyzhivskyi reserve.
Busha was saved by the establishment of a new protected area, while the prosecutor’s office canceled the other two permits in court.
To stop this, a draft of a new permit procedure was developed and is now being prepared for approval by other government bodies. We hope our proposals will be considered and its approval won’t be delayed.
We are grateful to the ministry’s officials for their pro-conservation stance and hope it will remain unchanged, even after a new deputy minister responsible for mineral resources is appointed. We will continue to closely monitor developments in this area.
