Threats to sustainable development of forest resources of Ukraine are increasing due to several factors, many of which are caused by climate change. At the same time there is broad variety of public demand in the forests resources of Ukraine linked to the broad variety of environmental, economic and social needs and – unfortunately – currently war requirements.
In front of this area of conflict the SFI-Project launched a consultancy activities to explore the modern concepts of multifunctional forest management (MFM) and close-to-nature forestry (CNF) with the objective to clarify the status of these concepts in Ukraine, provide German experiences and identify options for implementation. Outcomes have been presented during a webinar 18.12.2025, which was attended by 80 forestry experts from state administration, forestry and environmental science, NGO´s as well as international projects in Ukraine.
In his opening, Volker Sasse – SFI-Project leader, recalled the State Forest Management Strategy 2035 highlight role of multifunctional forests in supporting strategic social, ecological and economic objectives. The national regulatory framework for forestry has been supplemented regarding the introducing the reshaping cutting in accordance with CNF principles. The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” (SE FoU) has prepared and launched its own Strategy for CNF for 2025-2030. From 2027 onwards, the widespread implementation of CNF will be a key challenge for forest management in the Carpathian forests and beyond. Unfortunately, SE FoU has not been able to present key elements of this Strategy for close-to-nature forestry during the current webinar.
Andriy Bilous, Head of Department of Forest Mensuration and Forest Management of National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine presented the “Status of multifunctional and close-to-nature forestry in Ukraine”. In his opinion CNF and MFM in Ukraine must rely on a systematic improvement of forestry legislation, comprehensive support from the state forestry administration, scientific guidance and technical-economic justifications as well as highly qualified personnel. CNF principals are important not only for state forestry, but for the other forest users as well.
Vitaliy Storozhuk – SFI National Project Coordinator, emphasised in his presentation “What should be regulated in multifunctional forestry management: stand protection regime or felling regime?” required steps for a transition to multifunctional forestry management. He concluded to promote the concept of Continuous Cover Forestry, where only thinnings are used for timber harvesting. He also appealed to implement procedures for distributing the entire spectrum of economic, environmental and social functions at any forest stand into the forestry regulations.
Manfred Schölch – Professor emeritus of the Faculty Forestry and Forest Management at Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences presented “Practical approaches to implementing multifunctional and close-to-nature forestry in Germany – options for Ukraine”.
He stressed his view on the implementation of CNF to be done mainly via a broad promotion by CNF activists: forestry practitioners, NGOs, science and education. “Only when the public is convinced by the concept, administration and forestry management will then act in the right direction. It´s not be seen as a revolutionary process.”, said Schölch.
During the lively discussion there was a great support to the further implementation of CNF and MFM in Ukraine. Sergiy Zibtsev, Professor of Department of Silviculture, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine supported the SFI initiative and suggested to start with examples in order to demonstrate the environmental, ecological and economic advantages of CNF in praxis.
In preparation to the webinar, the Ukrainian NGO “Open Forest” (openforest.org.ua) contributed with a paper on the “Transition to a close-to -nature forestry in Ukraine: Suitability, challenges and potentials”, where a focus a given to the personal responsibility of foresters, stressing at the same time the need for sufficient control of forest protection measures and namely timber harvesting.
In his summary Volker Sasse, drew some conclusions for the further SFI-Project work.
- Multifunctionality should be reflected in the state institutions at the level of Verkhovna Rada Committees, government and subordinated institutions, such as State Forest Resource Agency and State Forest Management Planning Association
- Definition of clear – as much as possible standardized – criteria for CNF; simplicity seems required, rather than complex approaches; the SFI-Project plans to support these subjects in 2026/2027
- Foster state forest monitoring, timber statistics and controlling of forest land use in the sense of multifunctionality by using means of deregulation, digitalisation and transparency on the whole forest territory of Ukraine
- Forest management administration, science and education in their attempts to promote CNF and MFM to the public.
