We warned that Draft Law No. 12089 poses a great threat to Ukrainian nature. Instead of protecting bona fide (good faith) purchasers of land, this law effectively protects those who “land grab” (deryban) forests, Protected Areas Fund (Pryrodno-Zapovidnyi Fond, PZF), and riparian buffer zones.
Court decisions being made under this new law now confirm our fears.
Courts are returning prosecutors’ claims filed to defend the interests of the state, demanding that multi-million deposits be paid into court accounts to proceed. This effectively bars the state from defending its own lands.
The Scale of the Disaster
This legal crisis impacts:
- Suburban forests around Kyiv.
- Forests near the Bukovel ski resort (in the Carpathian Mountains).
- The riparian buffer zone of the Desna River.
- Green zones in Odesa.
Astonishingly, all individuals who acquired these illegally appropriated lands are being deemed “good faith” purchasers who “did not know” that these were not ordinary plots for development!
In one egregious case, an appellate court overturned a lower court’s decision, thereby legalizing the development of forests near the village of Khodosivka in the Kyiv region. The justification: more than 10 years had passed since the original illegal land transfer (land grab).
The scale of this environmental and legal disaster will only continue to grow with each passing month.
For the destruction of nature for development, you can “thank” not only the members of parliament (narodni deputaty) who voted for this law but also the public figures and business associations who openly lobbied for it. We have named them previously.
Please share this information. The authorities must recognize the dire consequences of Law No. 12089 and begin to act to correct them!
