Association of Protected Areas of Ukraine

The Association of Protected Areas of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Асоціація природоохоронних територій України) is an all-Ukrainian public organization created to support Ukraine's protected areas, unite them into a single system, improve the management of the nature reserve fund, and promote environmental education. It was established with the support of a joint project of the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine and the Global Environment Facility titled "Strengthening the management and financial sustainability of the national system of protected areas in Ukraine." The Association was officially registered on 19 November 2009, when the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Mykola Onishchuk, signed the registration order. Its activities cover the entire territory of Ukraine, and it is described as the only national organization directly specializing in the management of protected areas. The Association's main tasks include the conservation, restoration, and ecologically balanced use of natural resources in Ukraine's nature reserve fund and areas reserved for protection; promoting the expansion of the national ecological network and its connection with ecological networks of neighbouring countries within the Pan-European Ecological Network; participating in the development of national environmental policy and improving the legal framework for the conservation, expansion, restoration, and protection of a unified system of natural landscape areas and other unique territories; participating in the development of management plans for nature reserve fund territories; organizing and funding relevant scientific research and monitoring of natural systems; conducting joint publishing and educational activities; and promoting national and international cooperation to raise the prestige and potential of Ukraine's protected areas. The Association is open to cooperation with state bodies, international organizations, public organizations, private institutions, and citizens in areas corresponding to its objectives. Its structure includes representatives from many protected areas across Ukraine, both of national and local significance. Seventeen local branches of the Association have been established. Mykola Pylypovych Stetsenko was elected as the Head of the Association. Collective members of the Association include numerous national nature parks and nature reserves, such as Halytskyi National Nature Park, Ichnianskyi National Nature Park, "Svyati Hory" National Nature Park, "Velykyi Luh" National Nature Park, "Hutsulshchyna" National Nature Park, "Desniansko-Starohutskyi" National Nature Park, "Skolivski Beskydy" National Nature Park, "Homilshanski Lisy" National Nature Park, "Prypiat-Stokhid" National Nature Park, "Synevyr" National Nature Park, Uzhanskyi National Nature Park, Shatskyi National Nature Park, Yavorivskyi National Nature Park, Mezynskyi National Nature Park, Kazantypskyi Nature Reserve, Kanivskyi Nature Reserve, Karadazkyi Nature Reserve, Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, Crimean Nature Reserve, Luhanskyi Nature Reserve, Opukskyi Nature Reserve, Poliskyi Nature Reserve, "Yelanetskyi Step" Nature Reserve, "Roztochchia" Nature Reserve, "Mys Martyan" Nature Reserve, Dniprovsko-Orilskyi Nature Reserve, "Znesinnia" Regional Landscape Park, "Mizhrichynskyi" Regional Landscape Park, the Institute of Hydrobiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the nature conservation enterprise "Kyiv Sozological Center," the Ukrainian Society for Nature Conservation, the Ukrainian Research Institute of Water Management and Ecological Problems, and the Kremenets Botanical Garden of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Ukraine. The Association has participated in environmental projects.

The Association of Protected Areas of Ukraine was created with the support of a joint project of the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine and the Global Environment Facility, titled "Strengthening the management and financial sustainability of the national system of protected areas in Ukraine." The organization was officially registered on 19 November 2009, when the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Mykola Onishchuk, signed the registration order. Its activities extend across the entire territory of Ukraine, and it is described as the only national organization directly specializing in the management of protected areas. The Association was founded to support Ukraine's protected areas, unite them into a single system, improve the management of the nature reserve fund, and promote environmental education. Its main tasks include the conservation, restoration, and ecologically balanced use of natural resources in the nature reserve fund and areas reserved for protection; promoting the expansion of the national ecological network and its connection with ecological networks of neighbouring countries within the Pan-European Ecological Network; participating in the development of national environmental policy and improving the legal framework; participating in the development of management plans for protected areas; organizing and funding scientific research and monitoring; conducting joint publishing and educational activities; and promoting national and international cooperation. The Association's structure includes representatives from many protected areas across Ukraine, both national and local. Seventeen local branches have been established. Mykola Pylypovych Stetsenko was elected as the Head of the Association. Collective members include numerous national nature parks, nature reserves, research institutes, and other environmental organizations. The Association has participated in environmental projects. In 2011, its representatives served on the jury of the video competition "Zapovidna Ukraina," conducted by the UNDP in Ukraine in partnership with the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine. On 6–7 October 2011, the Association, together with the Ukrainian Society for Nature Conservation and Shatskyi National Nature Park, held a Civil Society Forum "State-Public Partnership in the Environmental Sphere" at Shatskyi National Nature Park in Volyn Oblast. The forum was attended by representatives of public organizations from Ukrainian regions, the Republic of Belarus, and representatives of the UNDP and other international organizations. The UNDP selected the Association as a partner for the project "Conservation and Sustainable Use of Peatlands" (Project Number: 00073498) due to its highly qualified personnel, professional reputation, practical experience, and its well-known status with its own offices and a large network of long-standing partners.

• Registered on 19 November 2009 by order of the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Mykola Onishchuk.

• Representatives served on the jury of the video competition "Zapovidna Ukraina" (2011).

• Held the Civil Society Forum "State-Public Partnership in the Environmental Sphere" on 6–7 October 2011 at Shatskyi National Nature Park.

• Selected by UNDP as a partner for the project "Conservation and Sustainable Use of Peatlands" (Project Number: 00073498).

The only national organization directly specializing in the management of protected areas in Ukraine.

1. 1Association of Protected Areas of Ukraine - Wikidatawikidata.org
2. 2Асоціація природоохоронних територій України - Wikipediauk.wikipedia.org