At the extended board meeting of the State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine, they summarized the work of the forestry sector for 2024.
Moving on to the agenda items, I want to note that even under wartime conditions, Ukraine's forestry sector managed to significantly improve financial and production results, achieving indicators that are several times higher than pre-war levels.
1. Regarding the results of key financial and economic indicators for 2024 - we maintain a positive trend:
23.7 billion UAH record net income from product sales under conditions when almost 20% of Ukrainian forests are inaccessible due to temporary Russian occupation, mining, and military actions, and timber harvesting is at its lowest levels in the last decade;
9.3 billion paid in taxes and social security contributions;
24,462 UAH record average monthly salary of sector employees. Compared to 2023, it increased by 3,490 UAH.
2. Forest cultivation production. We pay special attention to this issue.
As a result, we have the highest indicator in the last 10 years for creating new forests. Of the 35.2 thousand hectares of restored forests in 2024 - 6.1 thousand hectares were planted with completely new forests. In total, 238.3 million planting materials were planted in 2024.
According to autumn inventory data, 26.8 thousand hectares of forest crops were transferred to forest-covered lands, of which 25.6 thousand hectares were created by planting forest crops in clear-cut areas.
Unfortunately, 30.9 thousand hectares of unclosed forest crops were not inventoried or tested because they are located in territories inaccessible due to the war (temporarily occupied by Russia, mined).
To ensure forest cultivation work in 2025, 175.4 million standard seedlings were grown, including 11.2 million seedlings with closed root systems.
3. Analysis of tending felling design and their implementation by State Forest Agency forest users.
The current volume of tending felling, projected by current forest management materials in forests under permanent use by enterprises, institutions and organizations under the State Forest Agency's management, is 107,118 hectares.
In 2024, tending felling in State Forest Agency forests was carried out on an area of 88,390.58 hectares (83% of the volume projected by forest management). In the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, no tending felling was carried out in 2024.
4. Strengthening the international activities of national parks under the State Forest Agency is a key factor in their development. The "Skole Beskids" National Park is a vivid example of how international grant programs and scientific cooperation can be effectively used.
Building a summer camp, creating barrier-free access, implementing a protection and monitoring system using camera traps and the SMART program - these are just some of the initiatives that are the result of the park's active international activities. The experience of the "Skole Beskids" NPP in implementing completed international projects and current grant programs demonstrates enormous potential for attracting international assistance and is an example of how active international cooperation can open new opportunities for sustainable development.
As a result of considering the agenda items, the board adopted a number of management decisions, including:
Conduct selective inspections of forest seed production, nursery production and forest cultivation production during 2025.
Prepare justifications and approach the Ministry of Environment with proposals for implementing the President's "Green Country" program, taking into account the criteria used by colleagues when implementing similar initiatives in the EU.
Ensure planning of economic activities and actual implementation of tending felling taking into account the annual volumes of these fellings projected by forest management.
Formulate the needs of national parks for international assistance to inform international partners about relevant requests and strengthen NPP coordination on issues of implementing international technical assistance projects.
Submit to UkrNDILGA and consider by the State Forest Agency's scientific and technical council the draft schemes of Forest Crop Types by forest vegetation zones in a new edition.
Test the software product "Service for designing technical acceptance, accounting and quality assessment of forest cultivation objects" developed in 2024 by UkrNDILGA specialists at the Klavdievskaya LNDS.
I am grateful to all employees of Ukraine's forestry sector for another very productive year of work in extremely difficult wartime conditions, for your professionalism, and for your contribution to supporting Ukraine's economy.
Office of the President of Ukraine
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine