Ukraine launches Green Country project: it plans to increase forest area by 1 million hectares in 10 years

During his speech at the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30. Ecology," President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed a decree on starting the "Green Country" project.

This was reported on the website of the President of Ukraine.

"We're launching the Green Country project, and I'll immediately say that it's not a political project, but a purely environmental one for nature and the environment. We've set ourselves an ambitious but, I'm sure, achievable goal: increasing the forest area by one million hectares in 10 years. To this end, we aim to plant one billion trees in Ukraine in the next three years," Volodymyr Zelenskyi said during a speech at the forum.

In addition, the head of state outlined the most important areas in ecology and environmental protection.

Thus, according to the President, in the last two years, they've introduced changes in subsoil use, which has long been associated exclusively with corruption and illegal mining. In particular, by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, authorities began a full audit of all subsoil and their users, search and revocation of illegally obtained permits, and so-called dormant licenses.

"Geological information has become available to everyone, and a special subsoil use permit can be purchased at open auctions," said Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

"We're doing everything to make the subsoil work for our future generations, among other things, be the basis for introducing the economic passport of a Ukrainian, when each of our children will receive a percentage of mining and can use these funds to study in Ukraine," he added.

The second direction was the fight against industrial pollution and environmental control, which is one of the most important conditions for proper environmental protection, air and water quality for Ukrainian citizens.

"To date, a draft law on preventing, reducing, and controlling industrial pollution has been developed. It will launch a large-scale modernization of our industry and minimize the level of industrial pollution," President said.

He drew attention to the fact that a specialized environmental prosecutor's office and relevant units of the National Police had been set up for the surveillance system.

"Our industrialists must understand that in the 21st century, it's not enough to be successful, it's not enough to be productive, we need to be responsible," President stressed.

The third direction, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyi, concerns water resources and providing Ukrainians with quality drinking water.

"We discussed this issue at the last meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, and, similarly to the subsoil audit, a comprehensive audit of all water resources of Ukraine will be conducted," he said.

In addition, according to President, preparations for the management of river basins are underway, four modern laboratories have been built, and state monitoring has begun per European principles, covering all major rivers of Ukraine.

"The issue of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is no less important. At my initiative, we've launched the process of revitalization of the Exclusion Zone and approved its development program for the next three years. It involves infrastructure changes, a new concept of territorial development, domestic and international promotion of Chernobyl. It should become a powerful magnet for tourists both from Ukraine and all over the world, and the exclusion zone should become a zone of revival," the Head of State stressed.

The next challenge for both Ukraine and the world, according to the President, is global climate change, because our planet has almost reached the point of inevitable changes because of global warming.

"Together with international partners, we'll make our contribution to the fight against it: the modernization of public infrastructure and industry, the development of renewable energy sources, electric transport, energy efficiency," Volodymyr Zelenskyi said.

Also, according to him, laws have been adopted and a system of monitoring, reporting, and verification of greenhouse gas emissions in industry, legislation in the field of ozone-depleting substances has been launched. And the government will soon approve Ukraine's renewed ambitious goals in the Paris Agreement.

"One of the main allies in the fight against climate change is our forest resources. Unfortunately, the forest industry has undergone no reforms in virtually 50 years. We've begun transformations that will change the forest management system, introduce best European practices and make it as open as possible," the Head of State emphasized.

He said that they designed the new rules for the sale of wood to eliminate the "gray" market in Ukraine. In particular, 100% of unprocessed wood should be sold at electronic auctions, transparently and without corruption risks.

"The first steps on this path have already yielded results: it's plus one billion in the revenues of state forestries in the first quarter of the year alone," President said.

To recap, at the same forum, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the Law "On Restricting the Circulation of Plastic Bags on the Territory of Ukraine," which the Verkhovna Rada passed on June 1.