As part of the ongoing forestry reform in Ukraine, some buildings – such as administrative offices – of the reorganized state forestry enterprises (lisgosps) and forestries (lisnytsvos) have been vacated and are no longer in use by the new, larger branches of the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” (DP “Lisy Ukrayiny”). This week, a new stage of the reform began, which involves liquidating branches and transferring all management to regional Forest Offices.
We have previously appealed to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources (Mindovkillia) regarding the need to transfer these premises, and we received a response confirming that this process is underway. For example, transfer processes have been initiated for several national parks, including Cheremoskyi, Karmeliukove Podillia, Tsumanska Pushcha, and Kholodnyi Yar.
However, many other national parks and reserves still don’t have their own facilities and are forced to rent them, incurring costs to the state budget.
We are again drawing attention to the fact that before any state property is sold, it is essential to first provide for protected area institutions, which are also funded by the state.
The buildings of the former state forestry enterprises and forestries are ideal for housing the offices and departments of national parks and reserves. They have all the necessary infrastructure, including garages for storing and servicing vehicles, firefighting equipment, and more.
Given that “Forests of Ukraine” is managed by the State Forest Resources Agency, which in turn is coordinated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, all that is needed is the political will of the Ministry to ensure that the national parks and reserves under its jurisdiction receive these facilities.
We have formally requested that the Ministry continue the practice of transferring the premises of reorganized forestry enterprises and forestries—that are not or will not be used by “Forests of Ukraine” as part of the reform—before they are sold off under small-scale privatization.
