XI WORLD FORESTRY
CONGRESS
Antalya, Turkey, 13 to 22
October 1997
  VOLUME 7I.GUEST SPEAKERS'ADDRESSESFORESTRY OF UKRAINE: PROBLEMS AND WAYS TO SETTLE THEM
Valery Samoplavsky 1 Our country - the Ukraine - is situated in the East Europe, it's territory is 603,000 square km, it is the second after Russia by territory in the continent. It's territory takes 900 km from North to South and 1300 km from West to East. The most part of it's surface is plain which is averagely 174 m over sea level. Territory of the Ukraine has well developed river net and not many marshes and lakes. It has several natural-climatic zones: Polissya, Forest-Steppe, Steppe, Crimea mountains and Ukrainian Carpathians. Climate is temperate continental. Soils are various. Sandy soils predominate in Polissya, they are grey forest soils and black earth in Forest-Steppe, black earth soils predominate in Steppe. Forest covers only 14.4% of territory, that is the Ukraine is a country with forest deficit. Total area of forest fund is 10 million ha and 8.6 million ha from it is covered by forest vegetation. The total stock of Ukrainian forests is estimated to be 1 300 million m3. Forests disseminate very irregularly. The largest forest massifs are on the North - in Polissya and in Ukrainian Carpathians. Average increment is 4.0 m3/ha and ranges from 5.0 m3 in Carpathians to 2.5 m3in the steppe. Forests of the Ukraine have mainly ecological (water and other protective, recreational) functions, and that their exploitation value is limited. Last decades forest cultivation is extended, that is afforestated area is more than area of fell. As a result, for the last 30 years the surface of forests in the Ukraine has increased by 1.5 million ha, and the wood stock has increased by 600 million cubic m, that is 1.8 times as large. Forest area is increased at the expense of afforestation of lands which are unfit for agriculture. Coniferous stands cover 45% of total area, including Scots pine (Pinus silvestris L.) - 36%. Hardleaved cover 41% of total area, including European oak (Quercus robur L.) and common beach (Fagus sylvatica L.) - 33%. There is only 0.2 ha of forest and 25 m3 of the total stock per one inhabitant of the country. Yearly approximately 13 million of cubic m of wood is harvested in Ukraine, including 45% from main fell, and timber is 70% from it. Taking into attention critical deficit of forest resources, wood and non-wood wastes are widely used in Ukraine. It forms 30% from value of harvested wood. Present spreading of forests in Ukraine is the result of influence of climatic, geological, soil and, first of all, anthropogenic factors. History of mankind, including the long ago populated territory of Ukraine, was accompanied with forest destruction. In antiquity forest cover of Ukraine was 43%. Forestry of Ukraine had long and hard development. Forestry as a science and as a practice in Ukraine has appeared in XVIII century. Now foresters of Ukraine have unique experience inresearch in practice of forestry in the steppe, amelioration, creation of forest stands on the mobile sands. Forest management in Ukraine is laid upon government bodies headed by Ministry of Forestry. 260 specialized forest-management enterprises carry out direct forest management. Two research institutes of forestry and ten research stations, which cover all forest zones of the Ukraine, realize scientific maintenance of the branch activity. The main directions of forest management are: · increase of forest covered area up to optimal one for every natural zone; · conservation of the biodiversity of forest ecosystems; · increase of forest ecosystems resistance to negative environmental factors: climate change and increasing anthropogenic load, forest fires, diseases and insect pests; · rational, inexhaustible use of forest in order to satisfy wood demands of the internal market of the country; · amelioration and forest cultivation in the steppe.
Historically irregular age structure of forests turned out in our country. We distinguish forest stands by age as: young - 47%, middle-aged - 38%, premature - 9%, mature - 6%. Young stands predominate in the Ukraine in result of large-scale afforestation of the area, where stands were felled during the reconstruction after Second World War. Forest coverage in different natural zones of the Ukraine varies considerably and is not equal to optimal one. The last is such when forests, as the most complicated and the most developed group of vegetation, the most positively influe on climate, soils, conditions of surface discharge forming and provide necessary increment of wood. It was investigated that optimal forest coverage is 19.0% for the whole country, it is 32.0% for Polissya (now it is 26.8%), 18.0% for forest steppe (now it is 13.0%), 9.0% for steppe (now it is 5.3%), 45.0% for the Carpathians (now it is 42. 0%) and 19.0% for Crimea (now it is 10.4%). Moreover, forests in Polissya and the Carpathians have ecological and exploitative functions, but forests in forest steppe, steppe and Crimea carry out preferencely water and soil protective, sanitary-hygienical, recreational and ecological functions. That is, increase of forest coverage of the Ukraine territory up to the optimal one will allow not only to increase national wood resources, but also to stabilize ecological situation in the region and to mitigate the consequences of the greenhouse effect. The main task of forest branch is the increase of forest raw material and environment protective potential of forest fund by creation of new forests, mainly, on the lands unfit for agriculture, agricultural afforestation and increase of productivity and protective functions of forests. Protective afforestation has special meaning in the Ukraine, which has not high forest coverage and developed agriculture and industry. Approximately 5 million ha of lands are under erosion influence, 81% of agricultural lands are arable. It is not surprise that agricultural afforestation in the Ukraine has more than 150-year history. To diminish influence of erosion on agricultural lands and to increase soil fertility, forests and protective stands are cultivated in large scale on the new lands. Last 30 years 747,400 ha of erosion-protective stands were created on the lands unfit for agriculture. Moreover 440,000 ha of shelterbelts were planted, and they protect more than 13 million ha of arable lands. From approximately 1.4 million ha of created antierosion stands, 150 000 ha are on the banks of the small rivers and reservoirs. In the regions with evident active water erosion, complex melioration was carried out, particularly building of hydrotechnical constructions. For example, a system of water keeping banks11 900 km long, 6 300 of water-collective trays and 205,000 of the bottom dams were built in the Kaniv and Norinsk gully and narrow network. Created Kaniv and Norinsk antierosion forest hydrotechnical complexes has high protective effectivity. Only in the Kaniv complex 1820 ravines are fixed, this gave possibility to protect from erosion more than 22 000 ha of arable lands. More than 9 000 ha of erosion-destructed lands were returned to agricultural use, annually wood increment on afforested lands is approximately 40 000 m3. Large-scale works on afforestation of Low-Dnieper (Oleshkivski) sands in Kherson region, where coniferous forests are planted on the 100 000 ha, gave the possibility to stop moving of the sands on the area more than 200 000 ha, to protect dozens of thousands of hectares of agricultural lands from wind erosion, to get thousands of cubic meters of wood. However, the main benefit for the region economy is the involving decades of thousands hectares of formerly unfit lands into agriculture. Perspective region of grape growing with more than 12 000 ha plantations is here now. Agricultural afforestation practice proves economical advantages and effectivity of meliorative stands in the soil protection from water and wind erosion. One hectare of shelter-belt in the Ukraine conditions protects 25-30 ha of arable land, and the crop is 15% more than on the unprotected fields. Forest is one of the main determinant components of natural landscapes. It largely influence on stability of land cover, environment and it is source of energy. In connection with decrease of forest coverage and ploughing up of steppes, natural landscapes have destructed. Using of chemical means of forest protection from pests and diseases, bringing in mineral fertilizers, air pollution by industry and transport changed for the worse ecological state of environment in the Ukraine. That is why planting of new forests must not only solve the problem of struggle against erosion or other negative phenomena, but the whole problem of protection, restoration and stabilization of natural environment. Forest stands, including shelterbelts, provide oxygen production, clean air from dust and pollutants. Forest shelterbelts and protective stands are ecological niches for fauna, biocorridors for animals migration. System of forest stands creates forest-agrarian landscape, which is universal factor of hydroclimatic components optimisation, which changes not only microclimate between the shelterbelts, but climate in the whole region. At the same time, intensity of erosion stays considerable and problem of forest-meliorative land protection is not yet solved. In Ukraine there is large area of lands, which are unfit for agriculture and may be afforested (not less than 500 thousand ha). Position of the Ukraine in this question is undoubted - it is acceleration of the protective afforestation works, creation of completed systems of protective stands just in this century. In the system of Ministry of Forestry of the Ukraine there are continuous observations in the forest stands to gather information about state of forest resources, forest fund dynamic, forest damage by antropogenic, biotic and abiotic factors. This system of observations is based on the principle of ecological monitoring, which includes ground estimation and remote sensing. Forest monitoring in Ukraine is carrying out since 1989 within the International Cooperative Programme on the Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests), launched under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution by Union Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE). Now plots of monitoring are established in 14 from 25 administrative regions. In Summer of 1995 Ukrainian forests' monitoring has been extended with support of US Forest Health Monitoring Programme (FHM). The programme of monitoring includes discovery of fundamental changes in forest state on the early stages, revealing the causes of it, study the regularities of forest ecosystems development, perfection of forest monitoring methods. Recently large-scale forest decline is observed in Ukraine as well as in Europe. Existent scientific conceptions does not give exhaustive explanation of present sanitary forest state, decrease of their resistance to unfavourable conditions. However, it is doubtless, that harmful influence of industry and intensive economic activity of man are the leading causes. This is typical for whole Europe, including Ukraine with it's considerable concentration of industrial enterprises and high density of population. Our forest protection service gives the priority to development and dissemination of biological methods of pests control. They are not harmful for man and environment, can be used in the regions of Ukraine with high people population, where chemical pesticides are forbidden. Laboratory of biotechnology is created in the forest branch and deal with search and production of viral preparations against main forest pests. Need in some of preparations is satisfied now. Problem of forest protection from fire is one of the complicated ones, which are solving by foresters of the whole Ukraine. Especially it is important in the west and south regions, where, in result of large-scale 40-years afforestation, man-made coniferous plantations grow on hundreds of thousand hectares. Fire danger increases due to high density of people population and sharp growth of recreation. Revealing and putting out of forest fire is carried out by specialized service which has ground and aviation subdivisions. Ukrainian State Base of Aerial Forest Protection is aviation subdivision. It has 23 sections and groups of descent-firemen, helicopters and aircrafts. All the world know about tragic consequences of Chernobyl accident for Ukraine. At first, there were people victims. Ukrainian forests were suffered too. Forest stands of Polissya in neighbourhood of accident occupy 40% of all Ukrainian forests, and forestry continues to suffer large losses. Almost 300 000 ha of forests is excluded from use, and it is limited in the rest territory of Polissya. Besides that, this territory is the reservoir of water collection of one of the largest river of Europe - Dnieper and it's tributary - Pripyat, which are the main sources of water supply in Ukraine. In connection with it, it is important to save the forests healthy, stable, do not allow soil erosion and radionuclids taking out to water horizons. Forest science of European countries could give some help in study of problems of forests on the radionuclid contaminated territory. Separately on can distinguish a problem of reservation forests. Presently 10.8% of forest fund is reserved in Ukraine. This reflects generally accepted need in such territories. At the same time it is only 2% of territory of the country, and one must not permit growth of reserved territory only at the expense of forests. We think that reserved territories must equally represent all kinds of landscape. In accordance with Low of the Ukraine "About Animal Kingdom", forest management bodies execute also function of state management of hunting economy of the Ukraine. Objectively our forest and hunting economy are indivisible. Almost all live-stock of elk, more than 70% of deer and up to 30% of wild boar are in the forest, and this stipulates for necessity of complex approach to hunting problems solving. Just in the frame of such complex approach one can successfully solve problems of ensure of forest ecosystems stability and increase of the hunting effectivity. In these conditions just forest management bodies play a part of coordinating centre on development and installation into practice of scientifically grounded, weighted and effective approaches to organization of the hunting. The Ukraine has not bad potential of hunting fauna. There are up to 660 European bisons, up to 9 000 elks, approximately 22 000 deers, up to 157 000 roes, 47 000 wild boars, more than 2 million hares, more than 9 000 beavers, 21 000 black grouses and wood grouses, 5 million geese and ducks. Development of international connection, including hunting tourism, is a very perspective directionof activity of our hunting economies. Respective service of Ministry of Forestry presently deals with this problem. Development and realization of own forest politics of the Ukraine is based on taking into consideration of real forest maintenance and of the main changes, which take place in the economy, and provides reasonable equilibrium between forest ecosystems protection and continuous, inexhaustible, many-purposed forest use. Proceeding from new reality, after 1991 we developed Forest Code of Ukraine which was adopted by Parliament in 1994. There is legislatively fixed, that presently all forests are the state property. It is explained, in the first turn, with prolonged growing of forests, advantage of it's ecological meaning as compared with source of wood, necessity to maintain and systematic increase forest riches in the interest of not present but future generations. It is also explained with present lack of lawful and ecological culture of forest use, which turned out last years on the principles of consumer approach to the forest and to the whole nature. Forest Code of Ukraine corresponds to set task to provide regulation of forest relations in modern social and economical conditions and directed to maintenance, improvement of quality composition and rational use of forests to national interest. The Ukraine supported and signed the following Resolutions of Strasbourg Ministerial Conference: 2 "Conservation of Forest Genetic Resources", 3 "Decentralised European Data Bank on Forest Fires", 4 "Adapting the Management of Mountain Forests to New Environmental Conditions", 6 "European Network for Research into Forest Ecosystems". Taking into attention economic possibilities of the Ukraine, we saved the right to sign Resolution 1 "European Network of Permanent Sample Plots for Monitoring of Forest Ecosystems" and Resolution 5 "Expansion of the EUROSILVA Network of Research on Tree Physiology". The Ukraine has also signed all four Resolutions of the Second Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe: 1 "General Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Forests in Europe"; 2 "General Guidelines for the Conservation of the Biodiversity of European Forests"; 3 "Forestry Cooperation with Countries with Economies in Transition"; 4 "Strategies for a Process of Long-term Adaptation of Forests in Europe to Climate Change". The Ukraine supports the main idea of XI World Forest Congress, which shows considerable role of forests and forestry for continuous development of human society on the boundary of new century. We are ready to take part in the joint with other countries efforts on maintain and increase of forests. We are also interested to study experience of other countries in this branch, and we hope, that specialists of other countries will uncover something useful for them in the experience of Ukrainian foresters. 1Minister of Forestry of Ukraine.
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