Item 6b, presentation by the WWF Central and Eastern Europe: on the perspectives from civil society on biodiversity conservation – based on the ongoing Regenerate Ukraine Initiative

1. OECD Green Action Task Force - 2023 Annual Meeting
Ganna Lobchenko, Forest Project Officer WWF Ukraine
Regenerate Ukraine
Ukraine, Kyiv region © Diana Rudenko

2. 2
WWF Central and Eastern Europe - WWF-CEE
● 7 countries
● 230 staff
● Self-governing member of WWF

3. War: Impact on People and Nature
● ~120,000 people killed or injured
● ~16 million people forced to leave their homes
● Destruction of whole cities and infrastructure
● Destruction of nature:
○ Contamination or rivers, marine waters, soils,
burning and destruction of forests and habitats,
protected areas, animal deaths
○ 470,000 ha of agricultural land requires
demining
○ 200,000 m2 of contaminated territory
○ 1/3 of the country’s protected areas under
threat
@Ukrinform

4. Affected Nature Conservation Areas* (WWF-UA)
● As of January 1, 2021, there were 8,633 protected
areas in Ukraine with a total area of 4.485 million
hectares
● 16.5% of total number / 1,426 objects of nature
conservation were identified affected by military
aggression within the Emerald network
● 24.5 % / 1 100 427 hectares of Ukraine’s nature reserve
fund contaminated with unexploded ordnance
● 131 nature conservation areas remain fully or partially
occupied since 2014
* [Forest Management on Territories Contaminated with Unexploded Ordnance] Лісоуправління на територіях,
забруднених вибухонебезпечними предметами / С.В. Зібцев, О.М. Сошенський, Й.Г. Голдаммер, В.В. Миронюк, О.А.
Борсук, В.В., Гуменюк, В.Л. Мєшкова, О.В. Василюк, І.Ф. Букша – WWF-Україна, 2022. – 148 с.
https://wwf.ua/stay-tuned/reports-research/?7609966/UXO-forest-management
Pic 1. Overlaying of the maps of military operations zone
according to the data of the State Emergency Service of
Ukraine and the American Institute for the Study of War ISW
(© REEFMC)
Pic. 2. Spatial wildfires distribution map between February
24 and March 31, 2022
- dangerous zones according to the information
of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine
- dangerous zones according to the information
of the Institute for the Study of War

5. Consequences of Military Actions for
Forestry & Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine
1. Damage assessment is complicated due to the significant
scale of UXO contamination and ongoing military actions
2.Deforestation & limited ability to control wildfires
3.Impossibility of management treatments
4.Internal migration
5.Deterioration of the population's economic & illegal logging
6.Biodiversity loss & destruction of valuable habitats
7.Limitations on conducting scientific research
8. Request on Management plans for territories
contaminated with unexploded ordnance
9.Reduction of jobs, an outflow of qualified staff.
10.Restricted access to public cadastre map & other public
databases
© Serhii Korovayny/ WWF-Ukraine

6. 6
The WWF Regenerate Ukraine Initiative
Strategic Objectives
1. Mainstream nature: support decision-making for the
future.
2. Green infrastructure: Engage with infrastructure
planners and financiers to future-proof infrastructure
and avoid negative impacts.
3. Incubate the future: Enable communities, planners
and businesses to accelerate solutions that work with
nature.
4. Save natural capital and heritage: Restore and
preserve critical habitats and ecosystems for
prosperity and resilience.
#StandWithUkraine

7. Opportunities for biodiversity
● Blowouts and uprooted trees can be important to many species
and actually create new habitats.
● Abandoned and contaminated agricultural lands can be
shifted to a nature reserve fund or forestry enterprises. At
the same time, it is possible to restore the hydrological regime,
in particular, to irrigate previously drained areas
● Strictly protected areas can “win” from “no go” regym
● The "replacement" for forests removed from the nature reserve
fund may not necessarily be forest ecosystems (depend on the
region)
From online sources

8. 8
Forest Management & War - Recommendations
● Assessment of heavily impacted protected areas to
determine the best management scheme taking into
consideration social and natural aspects (e.g. strict protection,
degazetting, decontamination, restoration, fostering natural
regeneration, etc.)
● Human resources: raise awareness, risk assessment for
mine & UXO contamination of forests and ensuring safe
working conditions for staff performing fieldwork
● Improve wildfire management around areas contaminated
with unexploded ordnance
● Revision of national long-term forest management
strategy reflecting new conditions
● Use potential of natural regeneration in areas unfit for active
forest management (as a consequence of military activity) and
as a general principle throughout the country
● Ensure sustainable supply chain management in view of
increased demand for timbre for reconstruction effort
© Serhii Korovayny/ WWF-Ukraine
© Brian Milakovsky

9. Regenerate Ukraine related WWF reports
Link:
https://wwf.ua/?7676466/susta
inable-recovery-wwf-bcg
Link: https://nbs.wwf.ua/wp-
content/uploads/2023/02/policy-
polyloque-and-
recommendations_insure_eng.pdf
Link:
https://wwf.ua/en/?6479466/for
ests-polluted-

10. 10
EU Accession & Implementation of EU Directives
● EIA & SEA procedures:
✓ improved EIA & SEA legislation approved
➡ ensure even enforcement, quality control over implementation, capacity training of experts
● Environmental monitoring:
✓ some steps taken to reform institutional framework
➡ improve environmental monitoring, ensure harmonisation of data with EU datasets
● Alignment and implementation of nature directives (“Birds” and “Habitats” Directives):
✓ efforts made to identify and designate Emerald Network sites
➡ Increase protected area coverage, establish regulatory framework, governance, and management
system for the Network, update relevant national regulations, e.g. protection of wild flora and fauna,
to be compatible with Emerald Network regulations.
● Participation of civil society:
✓ positive steps taken towards implementing rights under the Aarhus Convention
➡ improve public access to information and possibilities for civil society participation in decision
making, ensure enforcement of legal provisions regarding public participation

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