The article presents a brief analysis of the ecological state of the forest ecosystems of the Rivne district of the Rivne region. Today, one of the main problems of Ukrainian forests is excessive felling, a low level of afforestation, and the conduct of military operations. There are many environmental factors that reduce the area of forests, such as forest fires, pests and diseases, natural disasters, and illegal logging. Forests dry up, get sick, and are often cut down uncontrollably. In addition, in the conditions of transition to positional warfare, both Ukrainian defenders and Russian occupiers were forced to actively clear forests in order to deploy numerous defensive positions. Although this type of felling is an order of magnitude smaller than traditional felling, defensive felling in protected natural forests, especially old-growth natural forests, can cause significant environmental damage. After all, the older the main layer of the forest, the longer it takes to recover. The total area of forests in the Rivne region is 841,000 hectares. Of them, the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine uses 716.7 thousand hectares, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine – 12.4 thousand hectares, and the land of specialized cooperatives – 59.4 thousand hectares. The forest cover of the region is 36.4%, and that of the Rivne district is 24.7%, respectively. This means that approximately 2 million hectares of Ukrainian lands need to be planted with young forests in the near future. The expansion of the area of the forest fund took place primarily due to the decline of agriculture and as a result of afforestation of former agricultural lands and lands abandoned for agricultural use. Intensive felling of growing and mature stands, especially conifers, leads to a decrease in the area of the forest fund and a deterioration in the quality of the forests. Forests are extremely important, they are national wealth and, depending on their purpose and location, they mainly perform water protection, protective, sanitary, health, recreational, aesthetic, educational, other functions and are a source for meeting the needs of society in forest resources.
Author Biographies
Z. M. Budnik, National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Rivne
Candidate of Agricultural Sciences (Ph.D.), Associate Professor
V. V. Hrytsіuk, Nadsluchansky Institute the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Berezne
