Page 134 - IJPS-11-4

International Journal of
Population Studies Environmental impact on Ukraine’s quality of life

unchanged. The Carpathian region and Ukraine continue
Forest preservation and
restoration, wildlife protection, Reduction of harmful to lose forests – one of their most valuable resources – due
water quality improvement, substance emission, combat
etc against littering, etc to legislative gaps, overlapping control functions between
the State Forestry Agency and the State Environmental
Natural Clean Inspection, an inefficient judicial system, and high
capital region corruption levels within forestry. International expert
Carpathian
Eco-Way commissions argue that an incorrectly constructed
governance system in the forestry sector is a fundamental
Green Efficient
economy behavior problem and a source of corruption (Ukraine Crisis Media
Center, 2020). This fosters the emergence of various
Transformation of agriculture, Spread of ecological schemes. For instance, healthy wood is destroyed under
promotion of organic knowledge, formation of
production, use of renewable ecological consciousness the guise of sanitary felling and exported as firewood or
energy sources, etc and culture, etc
timber. Logging beyond the designated areas is another
Figure 4. Elements and directions of the strategy for improving the common violation, with actual felling areas sometimes
environmental component of the quality of life in the Carpathian region being twice as large as specified in the documentation.
of Ukraine. Moreover, trees within the reserve fund continue to be
Source: Authors’ own elaboration.
destroyed, and wood continues to be exported without the
forests, parks, and other green spaces. It is essential to necessary documents.
recognize that forests are not only an important economic Preservation of the forests in the Carpathian region
resource but also a habitat for 80% of terrestrial animals requires an integrated approach and a solution to a range
and plants. Humanity would not have survived without of problems across multiple levels. First and foremost, the
trees and forests, as they provide oxygen, food, wood, and governance system in forestry should be improved at the
other resources while absorbing carbon. Approximately national level. In particular, economic, regulatory, and
one billion people globally depend on forest products (wild supervisory functions should be clearly delineated among
meat, edible insects, edible plant products, mushrooms, the relevant public authorities. Coordination of activities
and fish) to some extent (FAO & UNEP, 2020, p. 19). and increased interaction between agencies are important
Forests also contribute to physical and psychological to solving the tasks assigned to them and adequately
health. Numerous studies demonstrate the positive impact responding to the main economic and social challenges.
of forest walks on cardiovascular and respiratory systems,
immunity enhancement, and stress reduction. Therefore, The system of environmental control currently requires
the slogan “Healthy Forests Mean Healthy People,” used by reform. Expanding the powers of the State Environmental
many programs and initiatives in the last decade, is well- Inspection (e.g., allowing it to immediately suspend
supported (Suzuki, 2020). logging rather than going through a judicial procedure)
would enable an immediate response to violations. The
The problem of forest preservation and rehabilitation is ability to conduct unscheduled inspections, expand the
particularly relevant for the Carpathian region of Ukraine, range of people who can initiate them, and increase
which faces significant threats and requires special fines for impeding inspectors’ work would strengthen
attention and protection from the state. Indeed, over 2,000 environmental enforcement. Moreover, simplifying the
unique plant species grow in this region, with relic species procedure of proving violations to law enforcement agencies
and endemics preserved, and its breech forests are included is necessary. The establishment of supervisory councils at
in the UNESCO World Heritage. Nevertheless, logging the local level to monitor timber harvesting, transportation,
in the Carpathian mountaintops has increased threefold and sales would strengthen the environmental control
since 2001. According to experts, one-third part of the system in the forestry sector of the Carpathian region. To
logging is illegal (Bezpiatchuk, 2020). Illegal logging in the reduce shadow markets, these councils could cooperate
Carpathian region caused Ukrainian hryvnia 18.3 million with lumber mills and widely involve the community in
in damage to the state in 2020 and Ukrainian hryvnia 7.1 their activities. The efficiency of such cooperation would
million in the first half of 2021 (Marchuk, 2021). benefit from the creation of specific mobile applications
This highlights the urgent problem of combatting illegal designed to immediately verify and report illegal logging.
logging in the Carpathian region and across Ukraine. For example, Romania’s “Inspectorul Padurii” application
Despite some measures taken by the government (such as (Popescu, 2018) allows users to enter the registration
the implementation of the Wood Electronic Accounting number of a harvester. If the number is not found in the
system), the situation with illegal logging remain largely database, the harvester does not have an official permit to

Volume 11 Issue 4 (2025) 128 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.4487