The Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group (UNCG) has formally submitted petitions to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources (Min dovkillia) regarding the creation of new Protected Areas Fund (PZF) sites within the temporarily occupied Luhansk Oblast (Luhanshchyna).
Implementing Parliamentary Recommendations
This effort directly aligns with the recommendations issued by the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management. These recommendations, approved in early 2025 following committee hearings in October 2024, aim to update conservation priorities based on the impacts of the full-scale war.
The approved recommendations outline specific actions to ensure the preservation of biodiversity in accordance with international agreements. Specifically, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the State Forest Resources Agency (DALRU), the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre (Derzhheokadastr), and regional state administrations were tasked with submitting materials to the President of Ukraine for the establishment of new and expansion of existing PZF sites, including those in temporarily occupied territories.
To assist the government in realizing these goals, UNCG spent several months preparing the necessary petitions for the creation of new PZF sites in the currently occupied Luhansk region. Most of these proposals are not entirely new but are updates and reactivations of previously collected scientific materials.
Proposed Conservation Reserves
UNCG submitted petitions for the creation of seven new Landscape Reserves of National Significance (Landshaftni Zakaznyky Zahalnoderzhavnoho Znachennia):
Proposed Reserve Name, Area (Hectares)
Preobrazhenskyi, 137.7 ha
Delfiniievyi Skhyl (Larkspur Slope), 451.4 ha
Richka Krasna (Krasna River), 254.1 ha
Berezivka-2, 130.9 ha
Taniushevsky, 696.28 ha
Orikhivsko-Vyshnevetskyi Kriazh, 9,399.2 ha
Elba, 12,433.3 ha
Unique and Endemic Habitats
The first five proposed reserves are sites for the preservation of rare types of natural habitats that are listed in Resolution No. 4 of the Bern Convention (The Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats). Specifically, they protect the habitat type: E1.13 Continental dry rocky steppic grasslands and dwarf scrub on chalk outcrops.
This habitat type is unique to Ukraine and does not occur anywhere else within the countries of the Council of Europe. It is a critical area for the concentration of many rare and endemic species of both flora and fauna.
The larger proposed reserves, Orikhivsko-Vyshnevetskyi and Elba, encompass one of the largest steppe massifs remaining in Ukraine. Geographically, these areas are located in the Donetsk Ridge (Donetskyi Kriazh)—the highest part of the Donets Upland. This upland features mountain-like relief deeply dissected by river valleys, gullies (balkas), and ravines (yars). These ravines have fostered the formation of natural gully forests (bairachni lisy).
These territories hold high conservation value due to the presence of numerous species listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine, as well as habitats and species protected under the Bern Convention.
The project is implemented with the financial support of the International Charitable Organization “Ecology – Law – Human” (EPL) as part of the implementation of the TEDJusticeROL project.
