In light of a request of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine the Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture provides now targeted non-refundable financial and material assistance to overcome losses and damages at State Enterprise “Ukrderzhlisproekt”. In October 2023 the Project Steering Group of SFI-Project decided to use these funds for procurement of inventory equipment, implementation of inventory data collection and technical advice for a remote sensing based inventory of all Ukrainian forest during 2023.
According to the priorities of “Ukrderzhlisproekt” in early April 2023 three off-road vehicles have been purchased and handed over to Ukrainian inventory experts. Viktor Melnichenko, General Director of “Ukrderzhlisproekt” said: “These cars are an important prerequisite to deliver required inventory data during field campaign in 2023. We are grateful that German Ministry provided this assistance.” Further software, field laptops for information processing, high-precision GPS, as well as charging stations to support autonomous operation in the forests will be purchased.
This is another step in the support of German government in rebuilding the capacity of state forestry institutions in Ukraine. It is important that such cooperation builds mutual trust between the partners, along with confidence that all wartime challenges will finally be overcome.