The report is the final second year report of the FLEG II project assignment “ Harmonization of special protection natural areas inventory and management in Ukraine and the EU countries ” and is a continuation of the previous year activity, the results of which are outlined in the report “Analyze special protection natural areas law framework and develop proposals for harmonization of framework between Ukraine and EU”.

This report is presented in Ukrainian and in English (separate documents) and consists of three basic sections and ten annexes.

The second section includes an analyze of key principles of biodiversity conservation in Europe, which should be incorporated into the legal framework of Ukraine and forestry normative base, in particular, the implementation of habitat biodiversity conservation concept. It's noted that a key role for the biodiversity conservation in woodlands plays not only the nature protection areas established in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On the Nature Conservation Fund" (NCF) but also special nature conservation areas established in the Ukrainian forests that are incorporated into general state forest fund. At the same time, such nature conservation areas are not sufficiently represented in the Ukrainian legislative and normative basis. This part of the document presents the introduction of changes, amendments and new legal provisions in relation to biodiversity conservation according to the similar provisions of EU legislation, as well as analyzation of accordance of main Ukrainian legislative acts with the European nature conservation legislation in the context of conceptual provisions.

A list of inconsistencies between Ukrainian nature conservation legislation and the corresponding legislations of the European countries is identified and includes: the real absence of basic habitat concept of biodiversity conservation provisions in the legal framework of Ukraine; inconsistency of the main provisions of Law of Ukraine "On the Red Data Book of Ukraine" to the requirements of worldwide legal norms, in particular: in the area of the Ukrainian Red List objects determination, categorization of species included in the Red List according to the nature conservation categories, criteria of natural species assessment on belonging to certain nature conservation category, partly determination of methods and means of Ukrainian Red List species conservation, as well as the principles defined by IUCN. In addition, the current version of Law "On the Red Data Book of Ukraine" doesn’t address a number of urgent issues related to the conservation of species which are subject of conservation according to international legal documents. Also it is noted that substantial inconsistency exists between the basic provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On the Nature Conservation Fund of Ukraine" and modern requirements on the establishment of nature conservation networks. Furthermore, the mechanisms of clear determination, protection and conservation of Ukrainian Red Data Book species populations, as well as other wild-life, including their habitats is absent in the Ukrainian legislation.

The proposals concerning the amendments in basic nature conservation laws are presented in the third section of the report. In particular, the proposals for the Law of Ukraine "On the Red Data Book of Ukraine" including the introduction of recommended by IUCN rare species categorization and appropriate criteria of their status estimation, introduction of provisions of the habitat concept of biodiversity conservation, as well as the introduction of the practice of applying the IUCN categorization for the assessment of nature conservation status of habitat types. In detail these proposals are presented in Annexes 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3. This section also contains the proposals regarding changes and amendments to the Laws of Ukraine "On the Nature Conservation Fund of Ukraine", "On the Ecological Network of Ukraine" and "On State Program of the Creation of National Ecological Network for 2000-2015". The proposals include an introduction of national nature conservation areas categorization such as the territories of general purpose (actually Nature Conservation Fund), territories of special purpose (nature protection territories, identified according to other legislative acts) and territories of social and cultural purpose. Comparative description of IUCN categories of nature conservation areas accepted in Ukraine and proposed for three types of purposes is presented in the Annex 3.3.

Proposals concerning changes to the number of forestry legislative documents are outlined in the fourth section of the report. These include “Practical guidelines on the forest biodiversity conservation on the territories of Nature Conservation Fund and the Emerald network in Ukraine”, forest biodiversity conservation within and outside of the NCF territories. Changes are proposed for "The Statute of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine (SAFRU)" in connection with the biodiversity conservation in forests and sustainable forest management, as well as for "The Project of Forest Management Organization and Development" and expedient changes for "The Instruction on the Inventory of Forest Fund of Ukraine".

Appropriate annexes contain the proposed texts concerning the changes to “Practical guidelines on the forest biodiversity conservation on the territories and objects of Nature Conservation Fund and the Emerald network in Ukraine”. The analysis of High Conservation Value Forest status (HCVF) in the context of the categories of forests, and the corresponding especially protective forest sites (EPFS) is given. As well, Annexes contain the proposals concerning amendments to the Cabinet of Ministry of Ukraine Decree of 16.05.2007 No 733 "The Order of the Division of the Forests on Categories and Allocation of Especially Protective Forest Sites"; “The Statute of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine” and propositions for changes to the "Forest Inventory in Nature Conservation Fund" from "The Instruction on the Inventory of Forest Fund of Ukraine".