Last Friday, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers (Kabmin) approved long-awaited management plans for eight of the country’s river basins. This action is a crucial requirement for Ukraine’s European integration. However, the question remains whether these plans will lead to genuinely positive changes.
The new plans include necessary measures, such as the construction and reconstruction of water treatment facilities. However, they also contain questionable expenditures. For instance, tens of millions of hryvnias have been allocated for “revitalization,” which in reality often means the costly dredging of rivers and ponds. This practice is criticized by environmentalists as it tends to be more profitable than beneficial for nature conservation.
Another concern is the allocation of funds for “flood protection” in areas with no actual flood risk. It appears these measures are not aimed at solving real problems but rather at serving the interests of certain individuals.
Only a few of the plans include genuinely nature-oriented measures for river conservation, such as dam removal, the establishment of protected areas, and the control of invasive species.
We hope that the new leadership of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources (Min dovkillia) and the State Agency of Water Resources will be more nature-friendly and prevent pointless dredging, especially during a state of war.
In addition, other opportunities for river conservation must be pursued. It’s essential to develop a regulation on peatland use, complete the inclusion of all rivers and ponds in the State Water Cadastre, and empower the State Environmental Inspectorate to enforce legislation on the protection of riparian buffers and the floodplains of small rivers.
