The Ministry of Energy approved the Guidelines for the development of a report on environmental impact assessment in the field of forestry

The Ministry of Energy approved the Guidelines for the development of a report on environmental impact assessment in the field of forestry

According to the Act №134 of March 2, 2020, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine approved the Guidelines for the development of environmental assessment report (EIA) in the field of forestry, developed to implement Part 9, Clause 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment”.

These Guidelines consider the environmental impact assessment of the planned activities, namely:

• continuous and gradual felling of the main use and continuous sanitary felling on the area over 1 hectare;
• all continuous sanitary felling on the territories and objects of the nature reserve fund (NRF);
• forestry development on territories with an area of 20 hectares and more or on territories and objects of NPF or in their protection zones on an area of 5 hectares and more;
• afforestation (except for reforestation works) on areas of more than 20 hectares or on the territories and objects of the NPF or in their protection zones on the area of 5 hectares and more.

Determining the required number of surveys and the level of detail of information, analyze the project of the planned activity on the following issues:

1. Does the afforestation project affect areas that are particularly valuable for the conservation of biodiversity other than forest, including those in the territories and objects of nature reserves or in their protected areas. The territory is checked for the presence of grassy, swampy or shrub types of natural habitats of the Berne Convention, as well as objects of the Red Book of Ukraine, species of fauna and flora of the Berne Convention.
2. Does afforestation include the formation of forest plantations? Forest crops from non-native or invasive species of trees or shrubs?

If so, it is necessary to ensure a sufficient number of surveys and the level of detail of information in the report.

The peculiarities of the content of the sections of the report on environmental impact assessment are more related to the section describing the planned activities. Guidelines provide the description of planned activity separately in cases: felling of the main use, continuous sanitary felling, reforestation.

It is recommended to carry out the EIA prior to the approval of forest management documentation, estimated felling or a plan of measures to improve the sanitary condition of forests. This will allow in the future to apply for felling tickets for forestry activities, which are provided by the relevant documents, and take into account the environmental conditions of the activity, defined in the approval of the EIA and in the forestry documentation.

According to Part 5 of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Red Book of Ukraine”, it is not allowed to publish information about the exact location or growth of objects of the Red Book of Ukraine and other information about them, if it may lead to deterioration of protection and reproduction objects. In this regard, the provisions of Part 8 of Article 4 of the Law “On Environmental Impact Assessment” and paragraphs 9 and 18 of the Procedure for transfer of documentation to provide an opinion on environmental impact assessment and financing of environmental impact assessment by approved Act №1026 by the Cabinet Of Ministers of Ukraine of December 13, 2017.

Printed cartographic materials of exceptionally good quality and high resolution are added to the report on environmental impact assessment. Requirements for these documentations are given in Appendix 1 to the Guidelines.

It is also recommended that some sections of the report on EIA include the tables in the Appendices to these Guidelines. Scanned copies of the forest management project documentation cannot replace the tables provided by the Guidelines.