Technical cooperation on forestry between Germany and Ukraine was established in the framework of the Bilateral Cooperation Program of the Federal Ministry of of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH) based on a “Joint Declaration of Intent” between BMLEH and the Ministry of Agriculture Policy and Food of Ukraine. Implementation of the Declaration started in 2018 within the forestry component of the German-Ukrainian Agriculture Policy Dialogue project.
The first phase of the SFI-Project “Technical Support to Forest Policy Development and National Forest Inventory Implementation (SFI)” was implemented from October 2021 till September 2024, based on an “Implementation Agreement” between GFA Group, the general authorized executor of BMLEH and the State Forest Resources Agency (SFRA) of Ukraine.
Due to significant war-related damage and losses of inventory equipment and resources an increase of the SFI budget was initiated in 2022 by BMLEH under the title: Special Support to Ukraine National Forest Inventory (SNFI).
The current SFI-Project “Promotion of multi-functional sustainable forest management planning and implementation in Ukraine” is implemented since October 2024. On behalf of GFA Group, the executing agencies – IAK Agrar Consulting GmbH and Unique land use GmbH – are in charge of the implementation jointly with the Ukrainian partner Organisation.
Project Objective
The objective of the SFI/SNFI projects is to increase capacities with regard to forest policies, mainly related to National Forest Inventory, state forest management and forest management planning based on European and German experiences embedded in the overall framework of EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
Fields of Action
1.Improvement of forestry legislation with a view to EU harmonization, particularly with regard to a remote sensing-based national forest inventory
2.Further development of the remote sensing-based NFI methodology and use of the collected data for strategic policy development as well as administrative decision-making processes
3.Provision of international expertise in forest management planning and in state forest management focused on close-to-nature forestry
Ukrainian Partners
- Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources (MEPR)
- Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on Environmental Policy and Nature Management
- State Forest Resource Agency (SFRA)
- Ukrainian State Forest Management Planning Agency (SFMPA- Lisproject)
- Centre of National Forest Inventory (CNFI)
- State Enterprise Forest of Ukraine (SE FoU)
Timeframe: 36 months (October 2024 – September 2027)
Project location The project office is formally located at SFMPA in Irpin, outside of Kyiv
German contribution expected: ~ 1.200.000 EURO gross/ 3 years
Ukrainian contribution expected: ~ 1.000.000 EURO (budget provided for NFI implementation)
