Yesterday, on 18 June, the first meeting of the dialogue platform for representatives of non-governmental organisations with the Verkhovna Rada Subcommittee on Forest Resources, Biodiversity, Natural Landscapes, Nature Reserves and Adaptation of Ukrainian Legislation to EU Law was held.
The meeting was attended by about 40 participants.
Ganna Golubovska-Onisimova presented the concept of the dialogue platform as a joint initiative of civil society organisations and the parliamentary subcommittee. According to her, the platform is being created for cooperation between the Verkhovna Rada Committee, the Ministry of Ecology, specialised working groups of European integration platforms of civil society and the expert environmental community to jointly address problematic issues in the process of reforming the environmental protection system. This model of work will accelerate the development and advocacy of draft regulations, the adoption of which is an important condition for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
This is the first area of the dialogue platform’s work. The second is to strengthen parliamentary control for the effective implementation of environmental policy and legislation, and to find joint solutions to complex problems, reforming environmental policy and environmental governance on the way to Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, said Ganna Golubovska-Onisimova.
The work of the platform will be based on three main principles: transparency, accountability and independence of civil society organisations.
In her turn, Yulia Ovchynnykova, Head of the Parliamentary Subcommittee, noted the readiness to listen to different points of view on certain issues. “Now, in terms of the level of involvement of representatives of various NGOs, our work looks very expert and professional. We will be grateful for the exchange of views on the functioning of the platform and the development of a common vision,” she said.
Olena Kravchenko, Director of the EPL, suggested drawing up a work plan taking into account the work plans of the Ministry of Environment and the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada, so that the work of the platform would be organic and take place in the context of the transposition of Ukrainian legislation to EU norms. She also spoke about the need to hold additional meetings to discuss ‘hot’ issues, such as the recent events in Svydovets, to find out what businesses are doing there and what procedures are followed before certain valuable areas are destroyed.
In his speech, Anatoliy Pavelko, EPL’s leading legal counsel and environmentalist, warned against the adoption of Draft Law 13277-1 ‘On the Timber Market’ in terms of limiting the functionality of environmental impact assessment (EIA). The proposed changes to the EIA procedures, which are included in the transitional provisions of the draft law, contradict the subject matter of legal regulation and run counter to Ukraine’s European integration commitments, he stressed. The participants of the dialogue platform decided to send their position on this issue to the EC.
Other participants of the meeting expressed their suggestions on the format of the work. Indeed, there were many proposals, and an agreed action plan is currently being prepared for each of the issues raised by NGO representatives yesterday.
It is worth noting that the participants of the meeting repeatedly emphasised the need to change the priorities or approaches to environmental reforms. On some issues, Ukraine has been stuck for 5 years or more, although draft laws have been prepared, expert opinions have been provided, etc. These are the EU Habitats and Birds Directives, which are basic, as other reform steps are derived from the implementation of these directives in Ukrainian legislation. These include environmental liability and the criminalisation of legislation on serious crimes against nature. This was emphasised by Dmytro Skrylnikov.
In any case, we at EPL, as co-organisers of the discussion, are satisfied with the tone of the communication, the proposals and views expressed. We hope that by working together we will be able to move environmental reforms forward.
The material was prepared with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the joint initiative ‘Joining the EU together’. The material represents the position of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union or the International Renaissance Foundation.
Source: Environment-Law-Human Rights
