The State Environmental Inspectorate will initiate an increase in fines for environmental damage.
The State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine, together with specialists from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, is preparing a draft law on increasing fines for environmental damage.
Andriy Malovany, head of the State Environmental Inspectorate, wrote about this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.
"To effectively counter the ecocide of entire regions, it is necessary to increase administrative sanctions by at least 10 times. Our specialists, together with representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, are currently preparing a draft law on strengthening responsibility for about 50 environmental violations. Increasing fines will stimulate local self-government bodies to take more effective actions to protect the environment," Malovany wrote.
According to him, fines for most environmental violations remain very low. For example, emissions of pollutants into the air will "cost" violators 85-136 hryvnias, and violations of hunting rules - 34-340 hryvnias for citizens.
The head of the State Environmental Inspectorate drew attention to the fact that since the beginning of the year, the environment of Zhytomyr and Rivne regions has suffered the greatest damage.
"140.8 million hryvnias - this is the amount of damage calculated by the Polissia District Inspectorate, which unites Zhytomyr and Rivne regions, for 7 months of 2021. This is the largest figure among the other territorial units in Ukraine. The total amount of damage calculated throughout the country is 850.5 million hryvnias," he emphasized.
Since the beginning of the year, the State Environmental Inspectorate has identified a number of violations in various areas in the Polissia District. In particular, mass deforestation, cultivation of agricultural products within the zone of unconditional resettlement, a large number of unauthorized landfills and non-compliance with legislative requirements for waste management, environmental pollution due to the operation of enterprises (PJSC "Rivneazot", PJSC "Kostopil Glass Factory" and others), as well as violations of hunting and fishing rules.