The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has finally voted against draft law No. 9516, which aimed to change the regulation of deforestation. Only 122 deputies out of the required 226 voted for this draft law, which means that it did not receive the necessary support and was rejected.

The draft law was intended to simplify the deforestation procedure in Ukraine, including the abolition of environmental impact assessment requirements for clear sanitary felling. In particular, MP Yulia Ovchynnykova was an active opponent of this draft law in parliament. She outlined 6 reasons why this law cannot be adopted:

• It aims to increase the scale of clear-cutting, which is how the Carpathians and other forests are illegally cut down.
• It contradicts the Environmental Agreement developed jointly by Ukrainian and European experts to implement President Zelenskyy's peace formula.
• The EU Delegation has repeatedly pointed out the risks to European integration. 
• The leadership of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office believes that it may worsen the state of lawfulness in the forestry sector. 
• Negative opinion of the anti-corruption committee, which clearly indicates corruption risks.
• Leading Ukrainian and European environmental NGOs are against it.

We sincerely thank all the organizations and especially the Deputy of Ukraine Yulia Ovchynnyk, for preserving Ukrainian forests