Up to 10,000 hectares of Ukrainian forests have already been replanted this year, with the Ukrainian government now working with German experts to develop a new three-year plan for its besieged forest industry.
That is, according to the Ukrainian Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ministry, which confirmed that the new plan, to be published in June, will include a new forest inventory, extensive forest demining activities, forest cultivation and restoration.
Last year, Wood Central reported that Ukraine’s forest cover was just 15.9% of its territory—less than half of Germany, France, and Spain. Thanks to continued conflict, at least 3.5 million hectares of forests have been destroyed by mines, including the forests around Kharkiv, the new conflict’s new ground zero.
Under the new plan, German experts will assist Ukrainian forest authorities in implementing innovations in forest management, accounting, monitoring, and digitalization.
According to Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi, Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister for Forests, “Cooperation with Germany in forestry is strategically important to Ukraine,” adding that the new plan will be “aimed at supporting the development and sustainable management of our forest resources.”
Wood Central understands that the investment is part of Ukraine’s plan to boost exports of PEFC and FSC-certified timber in the western parts of the country, largely unimpacted by the war. It comes as the government announced in January plans to scale up timber production, build new forest roads, and stamp out corruption to make the industry more competitive in global markets.
By the numbers, Ukraine has more than 10.4 million hectares designated for sustainable forest management, with 87% of forests State-controlled – with the large share of these trees lucrative middle-age trees planted in the years after the Second World War – mostly pine, oak, beech, spruce, birch, alder, ash and hornbeam.
Ukraine is working to plant 3 billion new trees and invest in improving timber processing as part of Zelensky’s “Green Country” agenda.
As it stands, more than 4.19 million hectares of Ukrainian forests are certified by FSC—out of more than 160 million hectares certified globally—while more than 181,250 hectares of forests are certified under the PEFC scheme, established just months before Russia invaded Ukraine.
In 2021, 17.6 million cubic meters of wood were harvested, with almost half of all timber used in firewood. For more information about Ukraine and its forest industry challenges, click on Wood Central’s special feature.
