Land management under protective forest plantations at the local level: decentralization models

Abstract

The state of field protective afforestation in Ukraine has been studied and it has been found that the indifferent attitude of the state to field protective forest belts for many years has led to a ecological crisis (we have about 15 million hectares of degraded soils and estimated losses of 33-35 billion hryvnia annually), which is also the result of the long absence of the owner of these lands. Characterizing the problems associated with the use of forest plantations in terms of the interests of management and economic entities, it was found that currently the most influential entities are the state, the State Forestry Agency, united territorial communities and people whose interests compete with each other. Based on studies of the evolution of land ownership under protective forest belts, taking into account the decentralization processes taking place in the country and taking into account the provisions of the Laws of Ukraine, models of their management at the local level are proposed. Emphasis is placed on the fact that, regardless of the choice of the owner, preference is given to the creation of a municipal agroforestry reclamation enterprise for the arrangement of protective forest belts.