Games with foreigners: harmful species got into the planned "billion trees".

Last spring, the Ministry of Natural Resources banned the planting of invasive plants. It is about foreigners who aggressively destroy native species. However, after a few months, this ban was canceled, which foresters took advantage of in the fall.

Last year in May, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Ruslan Strelets, by his order approved the list of alien plants prohibited in the reproduction of forests. The list includes 13 species: the highest ailant, Manchurian aralia, low elm, prickly pear, black walnut, red oak, western frame, ash maple, narrow-leaved olive, paulownia (species and hybrids), common robinia (white acacia), late cherry, Pennsylvania ash.

The Ministry of Environment explained that alien species of trees are dangerous because they can change or destroy entire ecosystems. Having no natural enemies in new territories, they multiply rapidly, take over space and displace native species from natural landscapes.

It was noted that the listed species are prohibited from being used for the creation and restoration of forests and field protection strips, however, previously planted trees from this list will not be cut down.

"Three million hectares of forests in Ukraine were damaged by Russian aggression and need to be restored. The approval of the List of Invasive Species is a historic nature conservation step that will allow us to restore climate-resistant forests with high protective properties and without aggressive alien species in Ukraine," Ruslan Strilets emphasized.

This ban of the Ministry of Environment was in effect for a short time: already on September 20 of last year, the State Regulatory Service (SRS) informed the ministry that the list of invasive tree species prohibited for planting in forests was adopted in violation of the legislation, therefore the corresponding order must be canceled.

"The arguments of the DRS look, to put it mildly, questionable. First, officials believe that 13 species of trees are defined as invasive incorrectly and, apparently, without compliance with European practices. There is nothing to even comment here, because the list of invasive trees was developed by scientists based on European approaches, and then more than 120 representatives of the scientific community supported this decision. DRS has nothing to do with science at all," experts of the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group explain.

Secondly, they draw attention, the DRS believes that the Ministry of Environment violated the procedure for adopting the document. It seems that this order is a regulatory act, so it required another, rather lengthy procedure for adoption and, in particular, approval from the DRS.

"It's also doubtful. The decision of the Ministry of Environment was only an approved list of 13 invasive trees – the issue is exclusively scientific. But the ban on planting invasive trees was introduced in the legislation earlier – and the DRS had no objections. In general, it seems that the forest industry has once again used all possible connections, because it wants to continue to engage in Soviet "darkness" – planting invasive trees, destroying local Ukrainian biodiversity. Well, it is not the first time that the DRS plays along with foresters, because it emphasizes that it is always on the side of business," ecologists note.

Of course, the order was canceled, and the list of invasive species was put in a drawer. And on October 27, a publication explaining what happened appeared on the website of the Society of Foresters of Ukraine.

"The Association of Foresters of Ukraine received a thank you from the NGO "NTC Agroforestry and Horticulture": two public organizations simultaneously fought for the cancellation of the order of the Ministry of Environment regarding the complete ban on the use of invasive tree species. The Society of Foresters of Ukraine appealed to the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine, and the NGO "NTC Agroforestry" tried to get this order canceled through the court. Result: The order of the Ministry of Environment, which contains a list of invasive tree species prohibited for use in the process of reforestation, became invalid due to the appeal of the Society of Foresters of Ukraine to the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine regarding its examination," the message said.

It was further clarified that, according to the information received on the official website "Unified State Register of Regulatory Acts", on October 19, 2023, the Order of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine No. 671 of October 2, 2023 "On recognition as such that expired, the order of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine dated April 3, 2023 No. 184", which approved the List of invasive species of trees prohibited for use in the process of reforestation.

Environmentalists from the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group commented on what happened as follows: the scoop won, and it gave its results.

"In autumn 2023, the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" planted 945,000 invasive trees. Poltava Region, Kyiv Region, and even Transcarpathia with Ivano-Frankivsk Region suffered from foresters. The southern regions – Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Mykolaiv – got the most. As always, robinia (acacia) and red oak were the most popular among invasive trees at the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine". All planted invasive trees were included in the presidential program "Green Country" (this is the same billion trees of Zelenskyi). A year ago, the Minister of Environmental Protection, Ruslan Strelets, and the EU Commissioner for the Environment agreed to combine the Ukrainian and European tree planting programs – however, Ukraine stubbornly ignores the fact that it is forbidden to plant invasive trees in the EU," ecologists stated.
The Ministry of Environment decided to return the ban on the planting of invasive trees in the longest possible way: by developing a method according to which animals or plants can be recognized as invasive, and then using this method to conduct evaluations.

"Why so long, if there is a scientific consensus on most invasive trees? Instead, you can simply instruct foresters not to plant invasive trees. Therefore, it is most likely that another million new foreigners will plunder the wildlife again this spring," the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group suggests.

As it became known, the main favorites of foresters – red oak and black walnut – are planned to be planted in the spring with approximately 600,000 and 500,000 pieces, respectively. And they intend to allocate almost 150 hectares for common robinia (white acacia).

Foresters explain their love for invasive trees by the fact that this flora has no alternative, because no other species grows as well as it. Strangers are unpretentious – they do not need special care. And the consequences of their negative impact on the environment are not included in the statistics – it is necessary to report on the number of trunks buried in the ground.

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