Forestry in Ukraine: Current State and Development Trends

Abstract

The forest area in Ukraine covers 10.4 million ha, including commercial forests (37.9 %); protective forests (32.9%); recreational forests (15.3%); natural reserves, and forests for scientific, historical, and cultural purposes (13.9%). The annual wood increment is 35 million m³, timber harvesting is about 20 million m³ (85% of which results from clear cutting). The tendencies towards forest-resistance decrease, caused by excessive forest exploitation, require the transition to the implementation of a close-to-nature forestry management strategy, first of all, at intensively used hardwood forests, with a view to preserving the natural habitat and biodiversity. A shift is needed from the so-called “reforming cuttings”, to the selective system of forestry management, cultivation of uneven-aged mixed forest with multilayer, vertically and horizontally closed structures on the basis of natural seed regeneration. Preservation and target-oriented forests restoration are determined by the necessity to recover their ecological functions and sustain forest exploitation. Therefore, it is important to implement forest restoration and preservation, close-to-nature forestry principles, as well as a multi-purpose forest management system.