Hearings of the Verkhovna Rada Committee were held at Parkovy

On October 24, 2024, at Congress and Exhibition Center Parkovy, in the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Environmental Policy and Environmental Management in a mixed format, hearings were held on the topic: "The legal basis for the functioning of an effective system of protected areas and objects as the basis for preserving and restoring biodiversity: topical issues." More than 250 participants joined the event.

The event took place in the Small Exhibition Hall. The exposition at the location with an area of 525 square meters was divided into two parts:

• The first half housed a large stage and seating for guests;
• In the second – tables where participants could comfortably eat and socialize, as well as listen to performances in parallel.

Opening the hearing, People's Deputy of Ukraine Yulia Ovchynnykova appealed to the participants of the hearing with a request to hear the Anthem of the unconquered nation. After that, Ms. Yulia called to observe a minute of silence in memory of the Defenders of Ukraine, heroes of Ukraine who gave their lives for freedom, for democratic values, for Ukraine and its European future.

Also among the speakers of the event:

• Roman Shakhmatenko – UNDP Energy and Environmental Portfolio Manager in Ukraine;
• Svitlana Hrynchuk – Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine;
• Simon Holmström – Member of the high-level working group on the environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine at the Office of the President of Ukraine;
• Rebecka Le Moine – Member of the Swedish Parliament;
• Serhiy Vlasenko – Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine on digital development, digital transformation and digitalization;
• Borys Indychenko – Head of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Office of the Prosecutor General;
• Anatoly Pavelko – Ecologist of the MBO "Ecology-Right-Man";
• Oleksii Vasyliuk – Chairman of the Board of the NGO "Ukrainian Environmental Group";
• Victor Demchenko – Deputy Director for Research, Institute of Marine Biology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
• Michael Brombacher – Head of European Programs, Frankfurt Zoological Society (Federal Republic of Germany);
• Anastasiia Drapaliuk – Representative of the Ukrainian Nature Foundation;
• Tetyana Tevkun – Project Manager for Biodiversity Conservation and Adaptation to Climate Change UNDP in Ukraine.

In general, the participants took part in two discussion blocks on the development of territories and the обʼєктів of the nature reserve fund, as well as the European future of protected areas in Ukraine.

"Thank you sincerely, dear colleagues for your speeches, exchange of views, the issues raised, which we will fix in the decision of the Committee. We will be grateful for the development of recommendations and proposals on the outcome of the hearings," – the chairman of the subcommittee on forest resources, biodiversity, natural landscapes, objects of the nature reserve fund and on the adaptation of the legislation of Ukraine to the provisions of European Union law of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management Yulia Ovchynnykova summed up .