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Czech nature protectors will help their Ukrainian colleagues to have EU legislation

by AI | 26.Sep 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The project “Protecting Natural Heritage for Life in Ukraine” will prepare the conditions for protective measures that valuable natural and bird habitats in Ukraine must meet in order to be included in the European Natura 2000 network.

Nature, weather, ecology – illustrative image. Photo: ČTK Connect/Olga Patáková

Strašice (Rokycany) – Czech conservationists will help their Ukrainian colleagues in adjusting their legislation to comply with EU nature protection standards. The project Protection of Natural Heritage for Life in Ukraine will prepare conditions for protective measures that valuable natural and bird habitats in Ukraine must meet to be included in the European Natura 2000 network. Over 20 Ukrainian conservationists will undertake a week-long study trip to CHKO Brdy, Křivoklátsko, and the České středohoří, said today Karolína Šůlová, spokeswoman for the Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic (AOPK), which is coordinating the project.

“We have two years to prepare a kind of manual to guide our colleagues in Ukraine. We have experience with similar projects in Armenia and Georgia, so we know that it is necessary to invest energy and time primarily in local experts,” said Tomáš Růžička from AOPK. According to him, it will mainly be up to them how they combine their knowledge and experience with the recommendations of Czech experts. “And then it will also, of course, depend on how the situation in Ukraine develops,” he added.

According to the head of CHKO Brdy Bohumil Fišer from AOPK, practical experience is very important for starting the process of changing Ukrainian laws and related regulations. “Ukrainian colleagues were interested in how we cooperate with the military in the protected landscape area of Brdy. For the specific environment, such as impact areas in Brdy, the use of heavy machinery is a welcome help that maintains the valuable heathlands here,” he said. CHKO Brdy, a former military area, was opened to the public in January 2016, and the military still operates in parts of Brdy.

Experts from the Ukrainian Ministry of Environment, national park administrations, and non-governmental organizations are participating in the week-long study trip. The Protection of Natural Heritage for Life in Ukraine project is funded by the European LIFE program and ten percent by the Czech Ministry of the Environment. Approximately over 27 million CZK is allocated for the project. Among its outputs will be a publication on protected areas of Ukraine and an educational module for future nature conservation workers. (September 26)