Kyiv, January, 14, 2010. – Ukrainian environmentalists warn the President that the recent administrative reform has left the national nature protection without a management body, and therefore they ask to create a State Agency for Protected Areas of Ukraine instead of the dissolved State Service for Protected Areas.

Environmentalists explain their request by the fact that the ecological network (network of nature protected territories and sites) is currently being developed in Ukraine, which now, due to the absence of special service, is left without a responsible public service body.

“As a result of the operation carried out by the State Service for Protected Areas, for the period of Ukrainian independence, the total area of territories and sites of the nature protection fund has nearly tripled and now composes about 5.7% (should be 10.4% according to the State Program for Development of National Ecological Network by the end of 2015)”, says the letter from the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine to the President.

Environmentalists emphasize that the State Service for Protected Areas cooperated with  public environmental organizations and its activities were considered to be open and clear.

NECU representatives strongly oppose the creation of a separate unit of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources as proposed by the administrative reform, which would be responsible for the issues related to the nature protection fund. In their view, this will fail to ensure proper coordination in the field of nature protection management and studies and will reduce the staff capacity in the protected areas. One of the reasons for this is the change in the initial commitment of the Ministry, which prior to the administrative reform “was responsible for environmental protection” and now it “manages natural resources”. Environmentalists believe that resources-oriented agency would not be able to preserve the nature heritage of Ukraine.

“Administrative reform, as declared, is designed to improve efficiency of government bodies in Ukraine, but the fact of liquidation of the State Service for Protected Areas and failure to establish a new body that would inherit the objectives of the dissolved state service resembles the situation of “throwing the baby out with the bath water”. It should be noted that the dissolved State Service for Protected Areas was the only government agency whose operation raised virtually no criticism from environmental NGOs, except perhaps the wishes for even more effective and more efficient operation,”- says Igor Sirenko Head of NECU,.

He notes that officials in their letters qualify the development of protected areas in Ukraine as the highest national priority, and therefore the President of Ukraine has to make a civilized choice in environmental policy, namely, to establish the State Agency for Protected Areas.

The National Ecological Centre of Ukraine calls on all organizations and individuals who care about the fate of Ukrainian nature and the areas centers of its conservation – sites of the nature protection fund of Ukraine – to join an open letter from NECU by sending it on their own behalf to the President of Ukraine. The fax number of the Administration of the President of Ukraine +38 044 255 61 61.

Open letter from NECU to the President

http://www.necu.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/consagensy_toyanukovych-201001.doc

For more information, feel free to contact::

Igor Sirenko (speaks Ukrainian and Russian)

Head, the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine

+38 050 547 62 72

i.sirenko at gmail.com

Oleksiy Vasyliuk (speaks Ukrainian and Russian)

Deputy Head, NECU

+38 097 1000 473

vasyliuk at gmail.com

Iryna Bondarenko (speaks also English and German)

press-secretary, NECU

+38 097 699 10 38

isbondarenko at necu.org.ua