Huge volumes of Ukrainian timber are being trafficked across borders, making timber trade Ukraine’s third most corrupt industry behind customs and public procurement. That is according to WWF-Ukraine, which warns that Ukraine – now Europe’s third largest import market for wooden furniture – is at risk of being categorised as ‘high risk’ under the EUDR.
“Over the last five years, every second tree harvested in Ukraine was cut down through a process known as sanitary logging,” according to Myhailo Bohomaz, head of Forest Practice for WWF-Ukraine, who last year spoke of the influx of timber trafficked through the Carpathians.
“A significant portion of the logging consists of clear-cut sanitary logging, which in terms of impact can be even more harmful than industrial logging or so-called final felling,” said Bohomaz, who co-authored a report for the Basil Institute of Government last year.
Using poor and outdated documentation – weakened by wartime restrictions, smugglers use government loopholes to smuggle timber from protected zones into European markets: “The worst part is that field inspections, especially in protected forests, often reveal significant violations, such as removal of fallen trees and the designation of hollow or leaning dead trees for logging.”
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the conflict has drastically increased the relative value of forests’ previously under-utilised role in the national economy. “This is because Ukraine’s main industrial areas were located in occupied and fought-over territories…with forests, thankfully, largely located in the “safe” areas of Ukraine and thus remain a largely intact resource,” the report said.
Part of the Environmental Corruption Deep Dive Series, How Corruption Threatens the Forests of Ukraine: Typology and Case Studies on Corruption and Illegal Logging, it tackles the challenges faced by an industry that has ballooned in scale and importance and is now struggling to develop regulations to keep pace with demand.
“Continued attacks on civilian infrastructure are creating a high demand for forest products to generate heat and be used in reconstruction efforts,” the report said, adding that “the Ukrainian Government has recognised the sector’s increased importance by creating a new state-owned enterprise, Forests of Ukraine – now the country’s largest entity.”
Last year, Wood Central reported that a push by the Zelenskyy government to open vast tracts of forests for harvesting posed a significant risk to Ukraine’s trade with the European Union – the country’s largest trading partner for forest products.
“The new EU regulation on deforestation – EUDR – will enter into force next year, with timber harvested in an illegal and unsustainable way will not be allowed on EU markets,” with “the more problem logging, the worse the country’s status from the point of view of the EU,” according to Yuliya Ovchynnikova, a Ukraine member of the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe “If Ukraine falls into a high-risk zone, it will be a problem for woodworkers.” “They will be forced to conduct lengthy and costly additional inspections by independent experts.”
- To read more about the state of Ukraine’s forests three years after Russia’s invasion, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
