The State Forest Resources Agency team continues to work actively on preparing the project documentation (PPG) for GEF-8, ‘Sustainable Forest Landscapes of Ukraine: Combating Land Degradation, Climate Change and Economic Impacts through Landscape-Level Forest Restoration’.
During the technical committee meeting, experts from the State Forest Resources Agency took part in discussions and the formulation of proposals regarding the proposed project outcomes, the selection of areas for implementing measures, the establishment of a genetic and molecular laboratory, and other key project components.
The State Forest Resources Agency presented to the participants the areas proposed for the project, in particular war-damaged forests for restoration and naturally reforested land. They discussed the planned measures and areas of intervention, and identified the stakeholders to be involved in each area.
An important part of the meeting was the issue of establishing a genetic and molecular laboratory, specifically its location, purpose and expected functions, the laboratory’s alignment with the project’s objectives, and possible institutional mechanisms for its operation.
Genetic and molecular research will help to assess the potential of forest species to adapt to climate change and to fully implement the EU regulation on forest reproductive resources. According to experts from the State Forest Resources Agency, the laboratory should become the centre of the project, as forest restoration must be based on scientifically sound results from laboratory research.
It should be noted that the implementing agency for the GEF-8 project is the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), while the State Forest Resources Agency and The Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry and Forest Melioration (UkrNDILGA) will be designated as executing agencies.
