New environmental project is being launched in Ukraine at expense of EU

This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Ukrinform reports.

"Together with the Czech Nature Conservation Agency, the international charity Environment People Law, and the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, we are launching an environmental project co-funded by the LIFE Program in Ukraine "Preserving Natural Heritage for Life in Ukraine". This is the first case that allows us to use the EU's LIFE financial instruments even before our official accession to the EU," said Minister of Environmental Protection Ruslan Strilets.

He noted that the project will continue to work on the creation of the Emerald Network in Ukraine and its transformation into the EU Natura 2000 network of protected areas. This process began 10 years ago. After signing the Association Agreement with the EU, Ukraine committed itself to completing this process.

During the meeting with the partners, Strilets emphasized the need to reform the nature reserve fund in Ukraine and increase its territory from almost 7% to 30%. In addition, he said that last year, despite the war, the institutions of the nature reserve fund managed to increase their own revenues from recreational activities of parks almost 7 times.

As reported, the LIFE program is a financial instrument of the European Union for the implementation of measures to protect the environment and combat climate change, which has been operating since 1992. Ukraine joined the program in June 2022, becoming the first non-EU country to participate in the program.

The current LIFE program is designed for 2021-2027. Since 1992, the program has partially funded about 6,000 projects. The program's total budget of EUR 5.43 billion is 0.48% of the EU's total budget.

Photo: esperonews.it