Kyiv, 6 July 2025 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, with financial backing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), has delivered 13 units of equipment to support nature parks and nature reserves in Ukraine’s Polissya region. This initiative aims to strengthen biodiversity protection and improve wildfire prevention efforts in the area.

The official handover ceremony took place during “ParkFest: Where nature speaks,” an event organized by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine with UNDP’s support, marking the Day of Nature Reserve Workers in Ukraine.

This newly provided equipment will significantly enhance the capacity of staff in Polissya’s protected areas. It will enable real-time monitoring of rare plant and animal species, observation of ecosystem changes, and more rapid responses to fires, particularly in fire-prone peatlands. The equipment is capable of detecting landscape changes, tracking wildlife movement, and assessing vegetation health over extensive and often hard-to-reach areas.

Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Svitlana Grynchuk expressed gratitude to the partners for their technical support.

“Despite the challenges of war, we continue to strengthen and expand our network of protected areas and enhance their capacity to safeguard biodiversity,” Grynchuk said. “Every piece of equipment is an additional opportunity to preserve Ukraine’s unique natural heritage.”

Monica Rijal, Deputy Resident Representative for Operations at UNDP Ukraine, emphasized the importance of the sustained support that UNDP, together with the GEF, provides to Ukraine in the areas of environmental protection, land restoration, and climate adaptation.

“With financial backing from the Global Environment Facility, UNDP continues to support Ukraine’s efforts to conserve biodiversity and strengthen the institutions that manage protected areas,” Rijal noted. “It’s important to us that these institutions not only have access to modern technologies but are also able to systematically integrate innovations into their daily operations.”

Volodymyr Dikovytskyi, the director of the Nobel National Nature Park, highlighted the practical benefits of the equipment for daily operations.

“Our park covers over 25,000 hectares, and due to its scale, it’s not always possible to maintain continuous monitoring,” he said. “With this equipment, we will be able to detect fires more quickly, track ecosystem changes, and observe rare species in areas previously inaccessible to us. This truly enhances our daily work.”

This delivery marks the third batch of equipment provided to protected area institutions in the Polissya region by UNDP in Ukraine under the UNDP-GEF “Promoting Sustainable Livestock Management and Ecosystem Conservation in Northern Ukraine” project. Previously, in August 2024, these institutions received cameras, lenses, and other IT equipment, to support biodiversity monitoring. In October 2024, power banks were provided to ensure stable operations during power outages.

As part of the equipment handover event, a panel discussion titled “Biodiversity and War: Losses, threats, conservation, and recovery” was held. Participants included representatives from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine, and UNDP.

Roman Shakhmatenko, Team Leader of the Energy and Environment Portfolio at UNDP Ukraine, stressed that supporting protected areas must become an integral part of Ukraine's post-war recovery, noting that 44% of the country's valuable natural areas have been affected by combat zones or occupation.

Tetiana Tevkun, Head of the Environmental Protection Project Cluster at UNDP Ukraine, highlighted that protected areas play a vital role in conservation efforts, especially given that 687 animal species and 857 plant species in Ukraine are currently under threat of extinction.

During the discussion, UNDP experts also underscored the importance of expanding and strengthening the protected area network as a key tool for biodiversity conservation. This goal was presented in the context of the development of Ukraine’s first-ever National Biodiversity Strategy, currently being drafted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine with UNDP’s support.

UNDP supported the organization of this event within the UNDP-GEF “Promoting Sustainable Livestock Management and Ecosystem Conservation in Northern Ukraine” project and the Environmental Damage Assessment project. The latter project is funded by the Government of Sweden.

Background:

The UNDP project “Promoting Sustainable Livestock Management and Ecosystem Conservation in Northern Ukraine”, supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is being implemented from 2022 to 2026 across seven regions of Ukraine: Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, and Chernihiv. The project aims to develop a sustainable food system model for northern Ukraine, support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, promote sustainable land use, and preserve endangered plant and animal species.

The UNDP-GEF project “Support to Early Actions for the Global Biodiversity Framework” includes several key components aimed at aligning Ukraine’s strategy with global biodiversity goals. A central focus is the development of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) to ensure its alignment with the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The project also includes an assessment of existing biodiversity monitoring systems to evaluate their effectiveness and identify opportunities for improvement.

Media inquiries: Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Communications Team Leader, yuliia.samus@undp.org