Preliminary selection criteria development for natural reserve fund creation on Ukrainian military territories
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26565/2076-1333-2016-21-20Keywords:
ecological network, landscape, lands of military and defense industry, ecological corridors, selection criteria.Abstract
Protected areas make up only 6.3% from theterritoryofukraineand that is why the issue of natural reserves extension is very urgent. In EU countries the average parameter is 14%. That is why we should think how areas can be designated to become governmentally protected in the future. The lands which now belong to military and defense industry ofUkraineare also considered. The National Action Plan for Environmental Protection was approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (date: 25/05/2011, Nr 577-p). According to point 200, an inventory of lands which now belong to military and defense industry should be performed; the aim is to establish there protected areas/site. Criteria for the assessment and identification what lands can be assigned as protected areas are not developed. There are also no official procedure on identification and assignment of protected sites which now belong to military and defense industry.
For the pilot environmental assessment project a criteria for selection of areas/sites which can be natural reserve sites in future was developed. The key criterion for further inclusion of the site into the ecological network is the location within the eco-corridors ofUkraine. Analysis of the obtained results based on the sum of estimated scores (10-13) showed that stock lands of military bases/units can be classified as buffer and conjunct (eco-corridors) territories of nature reserve fund. For sure, it is obligatory to perform assessment of radiological contamination of the lands which are considered as potential for nature reserves. It is also recommended to carry out integrated environmental assessment of sites/areas. Based on developed criteria and for further integrated environmental expertise on sites, belonged to the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, it is necessary to develop the draft of the Military Standard “Instruction on performance of the inventory of lands, which now belong to military and defense industry, with further aim to establish protected areas/sites”.
