This announcement was made by the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Ruslan Strilets, on his Facebook page.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection, in collaboration with the Czech Nature Conservation Agency, the International Charitable Organization “Environment – People – Law,” and the NGO “Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group,” is launching the project “Preserving Natural Heritage for Life in Ukraine,” co-financed by the LIFE Programme in Ukraine.
According to Ruslan Strilets, this is the first case in Ukraine that allows the use of European Union financial instruments from the LIFE Programme even before Ukraine’s official accession to the EU. The project is funded by the European Union.
“Together with this project, we will continue working on the creation of the Emerald Network in Ukraine and its transformation into the EU’s Natura 2000 network of protected areas. This process began 10 years ago. After signing the Association Agreement with the EU, Ukraine committed to completing this process,” emphasized Ruslan Strilets.
Following the meeting, the Minister highlighted the need to reform Ukraine’s nature reserve fund and to increase its area from nearly 7% to 30%. Moreover, we have already radically changed our approach to managing the development of protected areas and objects. Despite the war, 2023 became a record-breaking year for the nature reserve fund, with revenues from park recreational activities increasing almost sevenfold. And this is just the beginning.
We are continuing to develop the electronic Cadastre of the nature reserve fund. This tool will ensure that no activities other than conservation can take place on protected lands.
“I thank our European partners and personally the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans, and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, who made the impossible possible – in 2022, even before obtaining candidate status for EU membership, Ukraine became a partner in the LIFE Programme. This is a personal victory for the Commissioner,” said Ruslan Strilets.