The other day Volodymyr Zelensky announced the Green Country project. Under this project, forest areas will be increased by 1 million hectares over the next 10 years. To do this, it is planned to plant 1 billion trees in the first 3 years.
But how realistic is this plan? We asked experts.
Vice President of the Forestry Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Professor of Ecological Economics, National Forestry University of Ukraine Ihor Soloviy told us about the current state of afforestation and reforestation in Ukraine. According to him, now the pace of planting and reforestation is far from what is needed to implement the ambitious plan of Zelensky.
The State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine, in its response, told us that it supports Zelensky’s idea.
The agency’s position also states that for the optimal level of forest cover in Ukraine (20%), it is necessary to create more than 2 million hectares of new forests. That is twice as much as the Green Country project offers.
Zelensky’s new initiative really has a noble goal. However, it is too early to talk about positive changes, as there are too many questions. Is there land for planting? How to encourage landowners to plant? How well thought out is this initiative, and is there a strategy for its implementation?
