Why should we preserve forests?
Approximately 40 percent of Ukraine’s territory is a steppe zone. At the same time, the country has one of the highest percentages of cultivated land in the world, ranking third in the ratio of arable land to the total area of the country. Such a “success” was ensured because the Ukrainian steppes were formed on rich soils known as “chornozem” (black soil), whose fertility favours agriculture. As a result few untouched steppe ecosystems remain in Ukraine, and wildlife is best preserved in places that cannot be ploughed. Such areas include forests.
Forests did not become arable land but still suffer due to clear-cutting, massive use of monocultures in plantations, the introduction of invasive tree species, drainage of swamps, etc. At the same time, forests remain the largest refuge for wildlife in the country, keeping it in the most intact condition. Ukraine’s forest cover is 15.9 percent, which is not a massive figure, but nevertheless Ukraine ranks ninth in Europe for forest area. Most Ukrainian forests are in the Carpathians and Polissia, in the north. It should also be mentioned that Ukraine has some preserved primeval forests, i.e., forests that humans have not practically altered. The largest proportion of Europe’s ancient and primeval beech forests is located in the Ukrainian Carpathians (also under the threat of loss). At the same time, the above threats make us think about the need for urgent measures to preserve more valuable forests. Why is this necessary?
Forests as a haven for the living
Forests are not just trees. Forests (mainly naturally occurring forests) are unique ecosystems that shelter thousands of species of plants, animals and fungi. A large percentage of these species cannot live outside forest ecosystems. Despite high anthropogenic pressure (logging, hunting, reclamation, etc.), Ukraine’s forests preserve many rare species of living organisms. The country covers a large area and has various biomes, so the forests here are diverse. They include the Carpathian forests in the west of the country, which contain a significant proportion of all European primeval forests and are home to many rare species, including the only permanent population of brown bears in Ukraine. Polissya floodplain forests in the north, bordering large areas of marshland, provide shelter for other unique riparian species and serve as a refuge for many migratory birds. There are also forests in the country’s central and southern parts, where they border steppes and form unique transitional forest-steppe ecotones. The diversity and value of Ukraine’s forest flora is evidenced by the presence of 214 rare and endangered species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Bern Convention (BC), the European Red List (ERL), and the Red Data Book of Ukraine (RDBU). Of the 611 species of vascular plants of national conservation status (listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine), 199 species grow in forests, i.e., 32.6 percent of the total.
Many rare and protected animals depend on forests, including almost all large mammals – bison, elk, bears, lynx and wolves. Many rare species of birds and bats (all bat species are listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine) also depend on forest ecosystems. A great example is the rare black stork, which nests only in remote, old-growth forests. Ukrainian forests are also home to many rare invertebrates, fungi and other less visible species of living organisms. However, they are no less important because they also play integral roles in ecosystems, ensuring their stability. After all, many fungi are bound to trees through a symbiotic connection called mycorrhiza and cannot exist without a symbiotic tree species.
Similarly, like other organisms in forests, many fungi need dead wood. In particular, these fungi can be an indicator species of native undisturbed forests. Other organisms – mosses, lichens and insects can also be indicator species. The presence of certain species of beetles, for example, can also indicate natural primeval forests. In particular, the rare great capricorn beetle (Cerambyx cerdo) is found in natural forests all over Ukraine. The ecosystem needs to have a continuous supply of dead wood for a minimum of a dozen decades to preserve the populations of these indicator species, which is very important because it is necessary to identify valuable forests accurately for conservation.
Forests do not just play an essential role in biodiversity conservation. As ecosystems, natural forests provide many ecosystem services that affect human well-being.
What does the forest give us?
In addition to firewood and timber, forest ecosystems provide many valuable products, for example, linden honey, for which beekeepers take their beehives to forests where linden trees grow. There are also berries that feed entire regions. For instance, the local population collects and sells wild blueberries and cranberries in northern and western Polissia and the Carpathians. The same goes for mushrooms. Medicinal herbs and hazelnuts are also harvested in the forests. In the spring, people collect birch and maple sap. Often, these activities are not controlled and, unfortunately, can be extensive.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of recreation in the forests. Before the war, visiting forests in Ukraine was not restricted. People could travel, recreate and relax in all the country’s forests except for leased hunting grounds and some protected nature conservation areas (reserved zones of national parks).
Just as important, forests protect against erosion and wind, regulate water flow, and purify water and air. Natural forests store carbon in soil, the forest floor and dead wood, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere, which helps prevent climate change.
For thousands of years, forests have protected the local population from raids by warlike tribes from the neighbouring steppe. During the last century, the forests of Ukraine (Kholodnyi Yar, the Black Forest, and the Carpathians forests) provided bases for insurgent movements. During the current war with Russia, the forests have also provided shelter for Ukrainians, making these ecosystems a vital part of Ukrainian historical culture.
Ukraine’s valuable forests must be preserved!
According to the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine, in 2022, about 17 percent of the forests under the agency’s jurisdiction (the vast majority of all forests in the country) are protected. The reserve status of the entire territory of the state is 6.6 percent. Often, foresters try to manipulate these figures together with the low percentage of forest cover in the country (15.9%). This is how they explain the reluctance to create new forest protection areas, the desire to simplify the rules for logging in existing protected areas, and other harmful initiatives, which, like other threats to Ukrainian forests, are more than enough. We are talking about logging in old-growth and natural forests, replacing them with monocultures, using invasive tree species for afforestation, and destroying self-sown forests for ploughing. War, forest fires, climate change, droughts, new pests and pathogens also pose challenges. Although forests in Ukraine do not occupy a huge percentage of the land area, they are natural oases in terms of biodiversity conservation. Many species, as well as humans, depend on forests and their ecological balance.
In addition, every year in Ukraine, new territories (primarily natural ecosystems such as meadows, floodplains and self-seeding forests) are being ploughed under for cultivation. At the same time, according to the European Biodiversity Strategy, the state should increase the percentage of protected areas to 30 percent, while it is currently less than 7 percent.
Protecting natural, old-growth forests and developing and implementing their identification and conservation mechanisms are therefore extremely important.
The harmonious coexistence of humans and forests can eventually yield positive results in community prosperity. Wise use of renewable resources, such as the collection of mushrooms, berries and herbs, allows local people to generate income without destroying ecosystems. Non-timber forest products, as forestry officials officially call them, and their extraction do not contribute to climate change as much as peat extraction in forests or logging. Generally, if these activities are carried out sustainably and responsibly, preserved natural forests will provide people with vital clean air and water and protect them from floods. After all, the money spent on measures to clean the air and water and compensate for other ecosystem services lost in deforestation will be enormous.
To ensure harmonious coexistence between communities and forests, Ukraine has created National Nature Parks with fairly lenient rules that allow local people to collect firewood, mushrooms, berries and herbs in regulated volumes, and also attract tourists to the region who come to improve their health, relax, enjoy nature and contribute to the local economy. Green tourism, eco-education and regulated recreation benefit communities, forests and biodiversity. Preserved forests will thank people in the end.
Climate change, unsustainable logging, loss of biodiversity: what are the threats to temperate forests in Ukraine?
Climate change and anthropogenic pressure are significant challenges for forests worldwide. Temperate forests are no exception. Let’s figure out what threats temperate forests in Ukraine face and what forest protection measures must be implemented.
How does unsustainable logging affect climate change?
Emissions from logging in temperate forests are significant because they disturb soil and litter. In temperate forests, a higher percentage of carbon is stored in forest soils, forest floors and dead wood, unlike in tropical forests, where most carbon is stored in the biomass of living trees. Selective logging (when only some of the trees are cut down) and clear-cutting (when the area is wholly deforested) lead to carbon release. However, the impact of clear-cutting is more significant, especially on natural and old-growth forests.
The consequence of clear-cutting is deforestation. In Ukraine, clear-cutting can be performed for different reasons: harvesting (for profit) or sanitary logging, which is theoretically aimed at controlling pests and diseases. Harvesting is not freely permitted in all categories of forests, and an environmental impact assessment is often carried out before it is authorised. According to the legal regulations, only dead and severely weakened diseased trees can be felled during sanitary logging. Nevertheless, forestry workers still use sanitary logging to extract commercial timber from forests where harvesting is prohibited. Sometimes sanitary felling violates the law, cutting down healthy trees or trees that perform an essential function in the ecosystem, such as hollow old trees.
Forests are not just trees. Biodiversity loss is a threat.
Unsustainable logging hides another problem, invisible at first glance: the loss of biodiversity. Forests are not just trees; they also include many plant, animal and fungi species that are closely interconnected. Replacing critical species in an ecosystem can lead to the collapse of the community.
Unsustainable logging harms biodiversity, as many species depend on old-growth trees and dead wood. Some animals keep the entire ecosystem healthy, for instance, several woodpecker species in temperate forests. The forest must have old trees with hollows for woodpeckers to settle and nest. In turn, these birds can keep the forest healthy by destroying pests. Without hollow trees, there will be no woodpeckers; without them, the ecosystem will lose its stability.
Measures that don’t work
Forestry workers often plant new trees after clear-cutting. Forest industry officials claim they offset the damage from logging by planting new trees. But is it true? There is little harm in this when it comes to replacing a managed forest (a monoculture of trees of the same age and species) with new trees. Replacing a monoculture with trees of several native species and leaving a few old trees uncut may even improve the situation. However, clear-cutting often destroys old-growth forests of natural origin. These are the ones that store the most carbon in their soils and are home to the most significant amount of biodiversity – protected species of animals and plants. Replacing them with artificial plantations of the same age and of a single species will in no way compensate for the ecological functions performed by trees of different ages and species in the native forest.
About half of Ukraine’s forests are of artificial origin. This makes them vulnerable to external factors such as climate change and pests. These are primarily coniferous forests planted shortly after the Second World War or later. Spruce is the most common tree species planted in the Carpathians, and pine is often used in the Polissia, forest-steppe and steppe regions. These forests are less resistant to pathogens and weather, and much more vulnerable to forest fires than forests of natural origin. A case in point is the massive fires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in 2020 that turned out to be catastrophic. Most of the destroyed forests consisted of artificial plantations of Scots pine with a significant percentage of dead trees. In mixed forests and forests of natural origin, these problems can also occur but are less severe. For example, a patch of deciduous trees in a mixed forest can stop or slow down a fire, as they do not catch fire as quickly as pine or spruce trees and are not prone to the most dangerous crown fires. Also, trees of different ages and species rarely dry out simultaneously and massively due to pest attack, as is usually the case with monocultures. After all, pests are generally specific in choosing the species and even the age of the tree they attack.
Dangerous hitchhikers – invasive species
The spread of invasive species is a severe problem. Invasive species have escaped from their natural habitats and have been so successful in adapting to the new environment that they have begun to take over native species and destroy ecosystems. As with many destructive human activities, the introduction and propagation of invasive species was mainly motivated by good intentions.
Last year in Ukraine, the forestry sector planted almost a million invasive trees. These include black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), northern red oak (Quercus rubra) and others. Most of these trees originate from North America and are invasive in Europe. Even though there is data on the negative impact on biodiversity for each species, foresters continue to plant these trees. Foresters claim it is the only way to adapt to climate change, that indigenous tree species cannot withstand the impact of climate change and decreasing precipitation, which may soon lead to deforestation. Indeed, invasive tree species are more resilient and may be more economically viable to grow. But everything comes at a price. Replacing native tree species with invasive ones leads to a radical change in ecosystems.
In 2023, the Ministry of Ecology of Ukraine banned the planting of invasive tree species in Ukraine’s forests, specifying 13 species. However, the decision was revoked the same year, allowing the planting of these trees.
In addition to invasive plants, alien species of animals, fungi, and microorganisms can also cause damage to temperate forests. All of these organisms can be pathogenic to trees or, in other indirect ways, affect ecosystems and disrupt their balance. Unlike invasive plants, humans mostly spread animal pests accidentally. As international trade and related transportation develop more actively, the problem of accidental introduction of new species, including pathogens, becomes more urgent. Many pathogenic organisms use transportation to escape their natural habitat, becoming “hitchhikers”. For instance, powdery oak mildew is caused by the fungus Erysiphe alphitoides. This pathogenic microscopic fungus affects native oaks throughout Europe. In Ukraine, in the summer, one can see that almost all native oaks have leaves covered with a white coating of powdery mildew, which slows down the growth of the tree, often destroying the summer oak growth and inhibiting photosynthesis and respiration. This disease appeared in Europe about 100 years ago. Studies indicate that its causative agent was most likely introduced from tropical regions along with exotic fruits. Once in Europe, the pathogenic fungus switched from its native host plant to oak trees.
The emerald ash borer is a beetle native to Asia that infests ash trees. This invasive pest has become a severe problem in North America and Europe, has already been reported in Ukraine, and is likely to continue to spread. Green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) is more vulnerable to the emerald ash borer, but common ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is also severely affected.
Measures that can work
Creating new protected areas and allowing nature to adapt to the ongoing climate changes is vital to protect forests. Ukraine’s scientific institutions and conservation organisations have been creating nature protection areas to preserve valuable forests for many years. The process is complicated, as forest managers are unwilling to accept the creation of protected areas in their forests. It’s no wonder, since in Ukraine, forest users do not receive relief on land tax for the territories designated by the nature reserve fund, so foresters lose out on much of the profit they make from forests in other categories.
There are several other activities to preserve forests in Ukraine. One of these is the concept of the season of silence. According to the law, from 1 April to 15 June, any activity that creates a lot of noise in the forests, including all types of logging, is prohibited. In addition to protecting forests from deforestation, the season of silence protects biodiversity, as this is a time of peak mating activity. Unfortunately, this legal provision was suspended due to the war. There is also an opportunity to create protective zones in forests and outside them to protect rare species. An equally important step for forest conservation in Ukraine was the development of a mechanism for legalising self-seeding forests. This mechanism made it possible to legally recognise as forests those agricultural lands that have not been used for several decades and, as a result, have become covered with forest. Instead of clearing these plots to plough them again, those trees can be transferred to the forest fund. Preserving and legalising a self-seeding forest is much easier than planting a new one.
Unfortunately, most people in the forestry industry still perceive forest ecosystems like a field of corn. They treat forests as agricultural: forests are planted and harvested, after which forestry workers grow new trees. Of course, the demand for firewood and timber is essential. However, it is equally important to prioritise the preservation of natural old-growth forests over profit (because, over time, the consequences of destroying wildlife will offset any short-term benefits).
How does Russia’s war affect Ukrainian forests?
The war has caused and continues to cause terrible losses to the people of Ukraine and its environment. Soil, air and water are being polluted, and environmental disasters are being artificially created (for instance, the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and military operations in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone). Ukrainian forests are also suffering from the war. Some of them are within the area of active hostilities, some remain under occupation, and some have been de-occupied. However, the forests that are untouched by war itself also feel the impact of the war, an indirect one. What are the most significant implications of the war on Ukraine’s forests?
Forests are directly destroyed when hostilities take place on their territory. Constant artillery shelling leaves trees in shards and covers the ground with a network of trenches and dugouts. Sometimes, explosions lead to forest fires. Forests far from the frontline are also affected by fires, as Russian missiles are falling all over Ukraine.
Currently, the Serebrianske forestry area near Kreminna has been practically flattened in the areas where the fighting is ongoing. Photos from there resemble images from the First World War, when shell fragments cut down almost all the trees. Artificially created pine forests in southern Ukraine have also been severely affected by the fires caused by the fighting. Severe fires also occurred in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone due to hostilities. During the occupation of the territory in 2022, Russian troops mined forests and roads and did not allow the forest fires to be extinguished. Thus, mine contamination is a significant problem in Ukraine’s densely forested de-occupied territories. It affects people and wildlife. It is tough to extinguish forest fires in areas of mine contamination.
The situation in the border area is also unstable. A large part of the northern border with the aggressor country is under fire. This damages the state of the adjacent forest ecosystems. An integral element of defence is the construction of fortifications on the borders with Russia and Belarus. Unfortunately, this process is also detrimental to forests, including protected ones.
Forests are also negatively affected by the fact that many environmentalists, activists, scientists and employees of nature reserve fund institutions joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These people have been unable to help conserve forest ecosystems for two years now. Russia is killing people, so some of Ukraine’s environmentalists will never be able to protect forests again. At the same time, while some conservationists are defending Ukraine’s independence with arms, the negative impact on the forests they left behind is growing.
The state needs wood to build defence structures on the front line and at the border. And this requires wood (at least, that’s how forestry workers explain the need to increase logging and implement other harmful initiatives). In the opinion of environmentalists, this weak argument led to the suspension of many progressive legislative norms during the war – for example, the rules on the season of silence. Every year, during the peak of the mating season, from 1 April to 15 June 15, all noisy work, including felling, was prohibited in the forests. The season of silence allowed us to preserve the biodiversity and forests. Since the beginning of the war, this rule has been abandoned. Of course, observing the silence regime in forests close to the combat zone and near frontline cities is impossible. However, this does not apply to the forests outside the combat zone. Another example: in April 2022, the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine tried to simplify the approval of most types of logging. Fortunately, active public opposition prevented this.
The official ban on visiting forests due to the war has also hurt Ukrainian forests. Now, legal permits are required to conduct scientific and environmental activities in the forests. The ban limits or even makes impossible the work of the already small number of conservationists who continued working during the war to monitor the actions of foresters. The ban also discourages scientific research in the forests.
On the other hand, hunting is also banned during the period of martial law. Forests are not just trees. They are complex ecosystems in which mammals play an important role. Increasing numbers of ungulates, such as roe deer, elk and European bison, can improve the ecological state of ecosystems. On the other hand, the ban will not affect poachers who were hunting illegally even before the war.
And finally, the existing nature reserve sites also found themselves in a difficult situation that also affected them financially, especially in the border area, not to mention those near the frontline. The flow of tourists to national parks has dropped; visits to forests in some regions are prohibited; in border regions, they are significantly limited, and in areas bordering the line of hostilities, they are deadly. It is tough to create new protected areas. When trying to obtain protection for areas in valuable old-growth forests, conservationists face resistance from foresters or local authorities, who say that it is inappropriate to create new protected areas because “the country is at war and needs wood”.
The war has a terrible direct and indirect impact on the environment in Ukraine. Forests in the combat zone suffer the most, but the situation outside the combat zone also needs to be addressed. Natural and old-growth forests must be preserved, especially during the war. Consolidating Ukrainian society and government on this issue will be the key to Ukraine’s successful post-war recovery, which will only happen with a healthy environment.
Roman Lysenko, biologist of the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group
