István Nagy held a press conference as part of a local tree planting campaign.Continue reading
Construction has begun on a controversial wind farm in Polonina Runa (alpine hillside of Carpathian mountain ridge in Transcarpathia, Ukraine), involving deforestation and roadworks in protected native forest areas, reports Zaholovok.
A company called Wind Parks of Ukraine reportedly plans to install 30 turbines in the high mountain area. To carry out the construction, a new forest road has been built in the Sipot and Lyutyanska forest districts, part of which is officially listed as a primeval forest and a protected zone in the Ukrainian nature register, warns WWF-Ukraine and several environmental organizations.
Earlier, WWF-Ukraine and other environmental NGOs appealed to the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources to cancel the logging permits, but were apparently unsuccessful. Although the Ministry suspended construction in January 2025, work appears to have continued since then.
Based on satellite images shared by WWF-Ukraine, by April 2025, road construction had already taken place, while records show that work had not even started.
Experts say this is a serious violation of the law, as Ukraine’s Forest Code prohibits any encroachment on primeval forests, including road construction and logging.
Although legal proceedings have been launched against the approval of the detailed zoning plan, a court decision has not yet been made.
The project violates several international conventions, including the Bern Convention, the Carpathian Convention, and the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR),
WWF-Ukraine stressed, calling on the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and the Prosecutor General’s Office to hold the perpetrators accountable.
The conservationists are certain that the project is causing irreversible damage to Carpathian ecosystems and it is irresponsible to sacrifice one of Europe’s last remaining native forests in the name of “green energy.”
Via Zaholovok, WWF Ukraine; Featured image: Pixabay