Posted on September, 05 2017

Kyiv – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed into law legislation protecting the country’s old growth forests under the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians. The law is significant as it establishes effective protection for old growth forests in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine, which are among Europe’s most valuable forests. WWF welcomes the new law, which was already approved by the Ukrainian Parliament in May.

Old growth forests are some of the last ecosystems where nature thrives in its purest form, substantially unaffected by human intervention. Such forests in Central and Eastern Europe face major threats including unsustainable resource use, poor management and illegal logging. A significant part of remaining European pristine forests is situated in the Carpathian and Balkan Mountains, which WWF has called the Green Heart of Europe.

At the beginning of 2017, more than 85,000 hectares of old growth forests were identified in Ukraine, with 54,000 ha of them in the Carpathians. WWF is continuing its efforts to identify and protect other valuable forest areas in the region.

"About 30,000 hectares of old growth forests are located in protected areas in Ukraine and are protected by law. Some of them belong to the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe’. Other forests are located within state forests and the adoption of the new law ensures higher conservation status for these areas. The new law presents a  real opportunity to protect these exceptional examples of Ukrainian nature”, says Roman Volosyanchuk, Forests Project Manager for WWF in Ukraine.
More information about the old growth forests in Ukraine is available on WWF’s online forest map http://gis-wwf.com.ua