Ukrainian ecologists are continuing to demand that Trukhaniv Island be declared a regional landscape park. The only obstacle is that selling land in Ukraine has become a profitable business. Experts claim that the creation of new nature preserves or landscape parks in Ukraine has become practically impossible. In late September the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) published the concept of building an International Youth Center on Trukhaniv Island as part of the city’s preparations for Euro-2012. It urges experts to redouble their efforts to fight for the island’s integrity. The concept stipulates the creation of temporary accommodations for over 15,000 guests for the period of the soccer championship and the construction of a hotel, campsite, stadium, golf club, observation tower and infrastructure service facilities on the island.
To prevent construction on the island, representatives of Ukraine’s Green Party submitted a petition to the KCSA demanding that Trukhaniv Island be declared a landscape park to preserve its unique natural ecosystem. Experts have given their assurances that making the island into a preserve will not prevent Kyivites from visiting its beaches and the sports and entertainment facilities. The only thing that ecologists are demanding is that the island not be turned into a garbage dump.
“The 450-hectare island is a unique natural complex for such a big European city as Kyiv,” says Serhii Kurykin, the leader of the Green Party. “It’s no exaggeration to call it the ‘lungs of Kyiv.’ There are an estimated 700,000 cars in the capital, so the greenery on the island is the only place where city residents can breathe fresh air. Its unique ecosystem has preserved all the characteristic features of the natural landscape with its integral biological diversity, despite the effects of the urban environment. It is not generally known that the island is home to rare birds, many of which have been entered into the Red Book of Ukraine (the golden-eye, osprey, erne, falcon, peregrine falcon, and oystercatcher). That is why it is so important to understand that creating an infrastructural complex on the island will completely destroy this green zone in the capital,” says the leader of the Green Party.
Among the other arguments in favor of turning Trukhaniv Island into a landscape park, experts point out that typical flood-forest trees grow there: poplars, black poplars, lindens, and willows. These trees prevent the spread of ticks, which cause Lyme disease, within the island’s ecosystem. Today a local microclimate with the effect of a “municipal heat island,” meaning that local temperatures, especially in the central parts of the city, are several degrees higher than on the outskirts, is forming in the capital. That is why permission to build on Trukhaniv Island may accelerate the process of desertification in Kyiv.
In addition, the status of a regional landscape park, according to the Law of Ukraine “On the Nature Preserve Fund,” will encourage ecological tourism to Trukhaniv Island. Experts are convinced that such an approach has the best prospects not only for saving the natural landscape but also for the economic development of the entire Kyiv ecosystem.
COMMENT
Ihor IVANENKO, deputy chief of the State Natural Preserves Service of Ukraine:
“According to the general urban development plan for the city of Kyiv, there are plans to transform Trukhaniv Island into a culture and recreation park, which stipulates its being expanded through the planting of new greenery. But making it into a regional landscape park is the best option for the island. It will enable us to differentiate the usage and preservation of its natural resources, create a controlled stationary recreational zone (“recreation bases,” sanatoriums, and other permanent recreational areas), and better organize visits to the island. First of all, restricted visiting areas will be introduced: no littering, no entry into the green zone, etc. But closing the island to visitors is not the goal. On the contrary, it has to be open for recreation. But when we speak about construction projects within the framework of preparations for the Euro-2012 soccer championship, we have to follow the rules of organizing tracts of land: scientific experts are checking the inventory of natural complexes and producing recommendations with regard to future activities in order not to harm wildlife. This is not about permission to build hotels or campsites, none of which are allowed in regional landscape parks, but only about creating stationary recreational zones. But we must preserve Trukhaniv Island’s natural resources.”
