Appeal of environmental NGOs on the risks of adoption the draft law #9516

June 19, 2024

NGOs are concerned about the possibility of the Ukrainian Parliament adopting draft law No. 9516. It proposes to abolish the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure for all sanitary clearcuts smaller than 10 hectares. In the Carpathian region of Ukraine more than 15% of all timber is harvested by such logging. Representatives of civil society organizations have repeatedly pointed out violations in the designation of these felling operations. The problem has been also confirmed by the EU institutions.

The EIA procedure is the only safeguard against massive abuses, when large areas of healthy forests are cut down under the guise of drying out or pest control. If the 9516 is passed, it will primarily affect old-growth forests in the Carpathians. Ukrainian legislation prohibits commercial logging in such forests. However, there will be no restrictions on sanitary clearcuts after the EIA procedure is canceled by the 9516.

At the same time, there is a high risk that such logging would lead to a violation of the Regulation on Deforestation Free Products (EUDR) requirements, as forest degradation will occur due to the transformation of natural old-growth forests into artificial monocultures through clear-cutting.

In view of the above, 31 non-governmental organizations have signed a letter to EU institutions and Ukrainian Parliament to preserve Ukraine’s ecologically valuable forests and warn Ukrainian Members of Parliament about the risks of adopting the Draft Law 9516 and the implication regarding the EUDR.