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On 2-3 April 2007, the Wetlands International Black Sea Programme with the financial support of BBI MATRA (The Netherlands) organized the intersectoral workshop ‘Dnipro Ecological Corridor: Modern State, Problems and Perspectives’. Participants of the workshop included representatives of the State Water Committee of Ukraine, State Environmental Departments in Chernihiv, Poltava, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhya, Mykolaiv and Kherson Oblasts, Cherkasy City Executive Committee, UNDP-GEF Program on Dnipro Environmental Rehabilitation, scientists, postgraduates and students of leading universities and research institutes from Kyiv, Kherson, Kremenchug, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Poltava, Kharkiv, Melitopol, representatives of NGOs and student centers, staff of nature
reserves.
The main topics of the workshop included:
- Dnipro ecological corridor in national and oblast schemes of econet;
- Methodology approaches for establishment of econets;
- Biodiversity conservation in context of development of Dnipro ecological corridor;
- Public participation in biodiversity conservation and econet development.
In the process of presentations, the number of the most urgent problems of Dnipro ecological corridor were identified, namely its disconnectivity due to large cities (megapolises), limited number of nature reserves in the southern part of the corridor, which could be served as core areas of the corridor, imperfectness of legislation on development of national econet. The methodological issues of priority of development of econets at national and regional levels were discussed.
Almost all participants emphasized the issues of interaction with local authorities and land users, clash of ecological and economic interests, the need to improve the level of public awareness on the issues of econet. The situation with establishment of the Regional Landscape Park ‘Dnipro Islands’ within Kyiv illustrates this. Scientists emphasized that despite existing scientific grounds and many efforts to establish this nature reserve, unfortunately local authority prefers to build houses at islands, which can bring enormous profits to builders. Participants of workshop paid a special attention to current legislation violation in part of inadmissibility of construction of recreational buildings in river floodplains, as it can be seen in floodplains of small rivers, as well as directly in the Dnipro floodplain (e.g. in Koncha-Zaspa in Kyiv). Proposals and recommendations of workshop participants were reflected in the workshop resolution.
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