Anatoliy Semynoha, Committee Chairman, and Heorhiy Philipchuk, exchanged their visions of the prospects for co-operation of the relevant branches of Ukraine's Supreme Legislative and Executive Powers for the next five years.
They highlighted the need for elaborating on a joint action plan. To this end, a cohesive work schedule should be drafted, and priority tasks determined. The major focus should be on the maximum reduction of negative man-made influences which are a heavy load on the environment. Listed among other priorities were waste standardization, neutralisation and disposal of toxic chemical waste, abandoning the practice of exporting raw materials such as round timber, instead of using it for home production purposes, and the tightening of responsibility for violation of environmental regulations on the use of local natural resources and State-owned deposits, etc.
The speakers indicated that 6.5 million hectares of land in Ukraine are under erosion, and only 4.7% of land belongs to The Natural Preservation Fund, whereas in European countries this figure has reached 15%. They stressed the need for classification of sea water areas, and alienation from The Ministry of Defence of hundreds of thousands of areas of forestland and water, left since the USSR era. Using European practices, those areas of inferior quality could be given the status of Preservation Areas.
The speakers touched on the Water Code of Ukraine, amendments to which have been elaborated on to regulate legal relations of Land and Water in the State. Among other concerns named were afforestation of inferior and degraded lands, introducing up-to-date forest cutting processes in mountain ranges, and tightening the liability for unlawful forest cutting. V. Voevodin, Land Resources Agency Head, alerted the audience to the threatening level of legal nihilism as regards land usage and adherence to legislation.
The Committee offered their visions of several problem areas and ways to tackle them. They upheld the idea of holding such meetings, believing that the joint efforts of the Committee, Ministry of Environmental Protection and relevant Agencies and Departments will allow the resolution of many problems during this Parliament´s Convocation.