Preservation and Rehabilitation of Forest Resources in the Carpathian Macro-region

Abstract

Problems related with increase of forests lands in Ukraine and on the globe are in focus of many domestic scientists, power and business entities, industrialists and others. Considerable interest to forestry products is shown by power bodies, local self-government bodies, private businesses. One of the most significant factors affecting rehabilitation and preservation of forest resources is the model of forestry sector operation in Ukraine as a whole and the Carpathian macro-region in particular. It refers to the principles of rehabilitation process, outlined in the period of the command-administrative model of management, but embedded in the current market mechanism. However, the studies confirm that market and command-administrative models of management are incompatible.
 It is demonstrated that highly effective use, rehabilitation, preservation and protection of forest resources is conditional on the involvement of government and local territorial communities. First and foremost it refers to formulating new operative principles for providing financial assistance, subsidies to forestry enterprises, private owners. Unprofitability of forestry enterprises and organizations shows the need in constructing and implementing a new model for organization and management in this important economic sector. It is demonstrated that such model cannot be built without relevant and reliable information base, which requires improvements in the existing system of collection, processing and analysis of statistical data. Chronic unprofitability in the domestic forestry sector in parallel with the increasing scales of forest felling, growing timber sales and enrichment of selected persons associated with power offices and local power bodies is a sign of the existence of shadow and corrupted entities in the domestic forestry sector. This requires not only revision of the current forestry policy, but setting a new one, along with adapting global practices in organizing preservation, use, rehabilitation and protection of forestry resources, of which the most important is land. First and foremost, priorities of organization and management in the forestry sector need to be changed. An important step towards optimization of the rehabilitation process of forest land plots in the studied macro-region should be restructuring, with returning private property to former owners. This change has to ensure the profitability of forestry enterprises, diversification of ownership forms, preservation and protection of forest resources for current and future generations.