Resort “Svidovets”: what is happening now?

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In the spring of this year, a petition to preserve the wild nature of Svidovets – one of the most beautiful places in the Carpathians – quickly gathered the necessary 25,000 signatures. The text of the petition contained two requests – to take Svidovets under protection and to prevent the construction of monster resorts planned by Kolomoiskyi and his people. How has the situation changed over the past 5 months? The natural value of Svidovets is undeniable. Scientists have counted more than a hundred red book species alone. However, only a small part of the mountain range has protected status. The rest are under threat. It is not only about the monster resort, but also about jeeping and large-scale continuous logging. In parallel with the petition, public organizations from the Free Svydovets movement developed and officially submitted to the authorities the documents necessary for the creation of a nature reserve of national significance called “Free Svydovets” on Svydovka. The reserve is not a nature reserve. Walking, selective logging or traditional farming are not prohibited there. But what is definitely prohibited is building monster resorts, driving jeeps or completely cutting down forests. However, the reserve has not yet been created. Because both State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” and local village councils must agree to its creation. It is quite expected that all of them refused the reserve, giving at the same time absurd arguments like “people will not be able to walk in the reserve, there will be a Hutsul reservation.” An obvious question arises regarding the quality of Ukrainian legislation. Svidovets is a natural heritage of at least a national scale, which was formed over thousands of years. This heritage can be lost literally in years – and never be restored. Why is the fate of Svidovets decided by law only by local officials, who are hardly independent in their decisions? Why does the state enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” go against the state strategy, which declares Ukraine’s intention to increase the area of ​​protected territories? There are also questions for the Ministry of Environmental Protection. This body is obliged to obtain approval for the “Free Svidovets” reserve. The officials received the expected refusals from village councils and foresters. And now they spread their hands. Like, you won’t do anything. At the same time, the Ministry of Environment has influence at least on the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. And there is also part of the communal lands of Svidovets, which can be taken under protection at all without the consent of the local village council. The legislation allows it. But it seems that the Ministry of Environment and other state bodies lack the political will to do so. The central government generally prefers not to speak publicly about the Svidovets problem. On the good side, the construction of the resort has not yet started, and even all the documents and procedures have not been completed. But the developer is trying very hard. For example, the detailed plan of Svydovets, approved by district administrations in 2017, is now being challenged by the Free Svydovets movement in the Supreme Court. But it seems that the developer decided not to wait for court decisions and started making new urban planning documents. Recently, the Yasinyan Village Council initiated a comprehensive plan of the territory, where, most likely, a monster resort will also be planned. This will allow to develop new documents instead of those that are challenged in the courts. The information campaign against activists defending Svidovets became even hotter. In the spring and summer of 2023, various mass media published commissioned articles, sometimes almost identical, accusing eco-activists of all possible sins. What do you think, for example: “activists are paid by the French resort of Courchevel, because they are worried that the resort of Svidovets will be their competitor”? Another high-profile news is the tender of the Yasinyan village council for almost 600 million for the construction of a road in the village of Chorna Tisa. Many people began to criticize such a decision, saying “they are planning to build a road to a private resort with state money.” If they really start building the resort, it will really be a road to the resort. But now there is no resort, but there is the village of Chorna Tisa, the road to which is terrible. It is difficult to argue with the fact that local residents do not deserve to break their cars in huge pits every day. Whether this road is expedient during the war is a different, more global question. Be that as it may, Svydovets has long since turned into a story of an all-Ukrainian scale. Thousands of people publicly called to take him under the protection of the state. But the state stuck its head in the sand. Apparently, he is waiting for the activists to deal with other issues – and it will be possible to quietly destroy the unique nature of Svidovets. Yehor Hrynyk, biologist, Ukrainian nature protection group, specially for UP.Zhyttia Publications in the “View” section are not editorial articles and reflect exclusively the author’s point of view.

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