By KYIV. Nov 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine has already planted more than 225 million trees over the year and a half of the implementation of the Green Country presidential program, which provided for the planting of 1 billion trees by the end of 2025, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets said.
"We have such data as of November 7. This is even a little more than the plan. We plan that by the end of 2025 we will fully implement the program," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He added that in connection with the war, it was necessary to slightly adjust the territories where trees were planted.
"Most of the work on planting woody plants in the early years should have been in the southern and eastern regions of the country, where the number of forests is insignificant. But the war made its adjustments. The predominant part of the forests, which was under the occupation of the Russian Federation, is still mined. It’s dangerous to plant trees there," said Strilets.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that a similar program is being implemented in Europe to plant 3 billion trees.
"In fact, these are two very similar initiatives, but the Ukrainian one started a little earlier. This means that we think like Europeans. We demonstrate that we are in sync with the EU, we are moving together, and Ukraine is Europe. Therefore, with Ukraine receiving the status of a full-fledged EU member in fact, the EU program will be overfulfilled by 1 billion trees thanks to Ukraine," the minister is convinced.
As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky in June 2021 signed a decree on the implementation of the Green Country project in Ukraine to increase the number of forests in Ukraine. The goal of the project is to expand the area of forests by 1 million hectares in 10 years.
