The Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is launching a new initiative aimed at restoring the country’s forest landscapes.
This is reported by Finway
Project Goals and Key Directions
The project plans to develop forest and agroforestry systems, restore ecosystem services, and implement sustainable natural resource management practices. The main goal of the initiative is to combat land degradation, enhance climate resilience, and ensure long-term ecological restoration.
The implementation is supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with a total budget of $5.4 million.
Challenges and Prospects for the Forestry Sector
Experts note that due to fires, shelling, contamination by explosive remnants, and chemical damage, approximately 2.9 million hectares of forests in Ukraine have been damaged or degraded. A significant portion of these areas remains inaccessible, creating difficulties for forest management and ecosystem monitoring.
“Restoring forest landscapes is not only a response to the destruction caused by war but also a strategic investment in the country’s future. For us, this is a priority task that combines ecological restoration with strengthening the resilience of rural communities. Such initiatives lay the foundation for the development of a modern, efficient, and sustainable forestry sector in Ukraine,” said Taras Vysotsky, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.
The Head of the FAO Office in Ukraine, Shakhnosa Muminova, emphasized that the project’s implementation will provide a systematic basis for investments in forest restoration and will contribute to the ecological and institutional resilience of the recovery process.
This initiative builds on the previous experience of cooperation between FAO and GEF in Ukraine. From 2017 to 2023, the partnership has already implemented a program to strengthen monitoring systems, improve legislation, and introduce sustainable land resource management over an area of more than 248,000 hectares.
The Ministry of Economy emphasizes that the new project is part of a long-term strategy to enhance institutional capacity, update approaches to forest management, and restore ecosystems.
During this year’s spring afforestation campaign, the state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” plans to plant 6.4 million seedlings with a closed root system.