Ukraine at COP30: details of the panel discussion on Ukrainian forests

In the Ukrainian pavilion at the UN Climate Change Conference COP30 in Brazil, a panel discussion entitled “Ukraine’s Forestry Sector: Recovery and Resilience in Times of Climate Change and War” took place.

“The full-scale war has brought unprecedented challenges to our forestry sector: fires, mines, unexploded ordnance, soil degradation in combat zones. Nevertheless, Ukraine continues to integrate advanced international experience into strategic frameworks for the recovery of the forestry sector. Forests are vital not only for carbon absorption and biodiversity conservation, but also for the sustainable development of local communities and the building of a resilient green economy,” emphasised Oleksii Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, in his opening remarks.

The event was attended by representatives of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Germany, the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise of Sweden, World Bank experts, the Directorate-General for Environment of the European Commission, and other specialists.

Representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine and the State Forest Resources Agency informed international partners about the consequences of russian aggression for Ukrainian forests:

• 1 million hectares of forests are temporarily occupied,
• up to 500,000 hectares are mined or contaminated with explosive objects,
• a further 100,000 hectares are in combat zones.

In total, approximately 3 million hectares of Ukrainian forests have been negatively affected as a result of the full-scale invasion, and the area of forests where economic activity can be conducted has decreased by 20%.

Also during the panel discussion “Ukraine’s Forestry Sector: Recovery and Resilience in Times of Climate Change and War”, the Ukrainian side presented to international colleagues the results of the reform in the forestry sector:

• creation of a digital wood traceability chain (e-forest felling ticket, commodity-transport consignment note with photo fixation of harvested timber, e-certificate of origin of forest materials, and electronic wood accounting system),
• separation of management and economic functions,
• introduction of transparent timber sales on exchanges.

While in 2014 all companies in the industry paid USD 127 million to the budget, in the first half of 2025 alone, they paid USD 132 million, despite a 20% reduction in resources.

At the same time, the mining of forests remains a significant problem. For this reason, the Ukrainian delegation called on international partners to join demining projects. In particular, through the supply of armoured forestry harvesting machines – remote-controlled harvesters that can work safely in mined areas and accelerate the process of clearing territories.

The panel discussion concluded with high praise from international partners for Ukraine’s efforts in preserving and restoring forests under the extremely difficult conditions of the full-scale war and with confident progress towards European integration.