Almost 30% of Ukraine’s total forest area has been destroyed by conflict, with Russian armed forces logging Ukrainian forests and selling timber into global markets via “friendly countries.”
That is, according to Ukrainian local media, which reported that the loss of timber production in more than 60,000 hectares of productive forests occupied by Russian forces amounts to more than US $369 million alone.
It comes as the Economist reports that Russia is planning to turn Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city before the war, into a “grey zone” completely “unliveable for citizens” as Putin prepares for a new assault on the besieged city.
To date, more than 40% of the total forest area in Kharkviv, held by Russian forces between March 2022 and September 2022, has been either mined or has been destroyed by fires connected to armed combat.
And whilst Ukraine is now working with US Tech mogul Peter Thiel to demine the world’s most deadly forest, those efforts could now be under threat as Russia prepares a new all out assault on the region.
According to Oleksandr Rybka, the chief forester in Kupiansk, a region where Russia was exporting logs into global markets – about two and a half hours from the centre of Kharkiv now under fire, active fighting in the neighbouring Izium forest “is destroying local forests.”
To date, the Ukraine Ministry of Environmental Protection and Resources reports that Russia has caused US $63 billion in environmental damage since the start of the conflict – with Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv amongst the hardest hit areas.
In January, Wood Central reported that Ukraine was scaling up timber production, building new forest roads, and stamping out corruption to stimulate processors desperately trying to avoid bankruptcy.
“Uncertainty with borders plus the holiday period in the EU countries have reduced the demand for wood. Many processors have taken a break… Demand is gradually recovering; however, in some market segments, the situation remains difficult,” according to Yuriy Bolokhovets, the director-general of Forests of Ukraine, who announced the sale of more than one million cubic metres of Ukrainian timber in auction.
Further complicating the recovery is the ongoing border blockade, which has resulted in more than 50% of processors leaving the market and blocking Ukrainian access to Asian markets. Ukraine estimates that the embargo already cost the the economy 1 billion hryvnia (or US $25 million) in forest exports in December alone.
At least 3.5 million hectares of forest have been affected by military activities in Ukraine and Crimea, with at least 1 million hectares of areas designated for sustainable forest management impacted by heavy disturbance in aboveground ecosystems, soils and water systems significantly impacting forest health.
- For more information about Ukraine and its forest industry challenges, click on Wood Central’s special feature.
