Ukraine annually loses hundreds of hectares of forest. Losses from illegal logging have increased by 77% reaching a total of 300 million hryvnas over 6 years. At the same time, there is still no strategy of the forest policy development in the country, forests and their rational use are not controlled and the regulatory environment of this sector has many gaps.
How to save Ukrainian forests from total destruction? How to put an end to illegal logging? How to achieve a balance of government’s and business interests?
The government and businesses will try to find answers to these questions and solutions to forest industry problems at the roundtable “Regulatory jungles: is forest a commodity or a resource?” on April 27, 2017.
The event will be attended by:
- Taras Kutovyi, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine
- Nicholas Burge, the Head of Trade and Economic Section of the European Commission in Ukraine
- Maksim Nefyodov, the First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine
- Andriy Zablotskyi, the Head of the BRDO Agriculture sector
- Ostap Yednak, the people’s deputy of Ukraine
- Hrystyna Yushkevich, temporarily acting as the head of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine
- Bogdan Tsupryk, the Head of the EBA Woodworking and Furniture Committee
- Yuriy Marchuk, the Head of Dendrology and Forest Breeding Department of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine
- Business representatives
A goal of the roundtable is to find a balance between economic, environmental and social functions of Ukrainian forests and identify solutions to problematic issues with the involvement of all stakeholders in the forest sector – the government, businesses and the public.
The BRDO Office conducted a detailed analysis of industry problems and it is presented in the Green Paper “Timber market regulation”. In particular, the study shows that over 50% of acts regulating the timber market are outdated and obsolete, and 6 of 44 acts are illegal. Most of the regulations, including the Forest Code, have been adopted in the 90s, and they do not allow the market to develop and create high risks of corruption. Thus, the existing regulation can do nothing with illegal logging and does not provide effective mechanisms to protect forest and sell the timber.
Get involved in the dialogue! The results of the discussion will form a basis for specific legislative changes in the market.
The representatives of ministries and agencies, business associations, business, groups of experts and scientist, the public and the media are invited to attend the event.
The place and time of the event: Kyiv, Club of the Cabinet of Ministers (7, Institutskaya St.), 10.00 – 12.00.
Click on the link to register.