Opening hearings, Chairperson of the Committee Mykola Tomenko noted that the majority of reserves have no legal status up till now and the practice of alienation of land plots of nature-reserve funds for unauthorized purposes is widely spread. “All these problems need to be urgently addressed,” stressed M.Tomenko.
Directors of reserves and parks said that current situation in the mentioned sphere is extremely complicated due to the reduced funding of reserve management and studies. Amendments to the Tax Code, adopted in December 2014, deprived institutions of nature reserve funds of privileges for land tax payment. Participants of the meeting stressed the necessity of establishing the single state body for governing the nature-reserve fund of Ukraine.
Following the results of discussion, participants of discussion emphasized urgent need of reforming environmental management system.