FORZA -phase III (2009-2010) (Swiss-Ukrainian Forest Development Project in Transcarpathia, Ukraine)

Key message: Environmental management and poverty reduction

Description

The project area covers the Oblast of Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia) with a total of 12 800 square kilometres and a population of 1 300 000 (78 % Ukrainians, several minorities) in the far west of Ukraine. Forests characterize the landscape in Transcarpathia. They play a crucial role to protect watersheds from flooding and erosion; they provide income for the local population through timber and non-timber use and tourism; they constitute generally the main basis of socio-economic development in this part of Ukraine.
The project originates from the Swiss-Ukrainian collaboration in natural disaster relief and reconstruction after the devastating floods that occurred in the years 1998 and 2001 and was jointly prepared in 2002/03 . In Phase II (2006-2008) general objectives have been modified to reflect the lessons learned during the initial phase, to address new emerging issues and to disseminate project findings to the wider Carpathian region. Transcarpathia has recently become a border region to the EU and project support in facilitating the adaptation process of the forest sector to new conditions has become more important.
Under the overall goal of implementing sustainable, multi-functional forest management in the Carpathian region with particular emphasis on environmentally sound management and improving the livelihoods of local people, FORZA has identified a clearly defined project objective for each of the four project components with appropriate activites. - Multi-functional Forest Management: To further develop and strengthen multi-functional forest management using means such as close-to-nature silviculture and low-impact harvesting to sustain forest functions and enhance production of forests goods and services.
- Forest Economy and Market-orientation: To strengthen the viability of forest-based economic activities by introducing market–oriented approaches and employing sound economic methodologies to forest management and landscape protection.
- Improved Livelihood of the Population: To improve the livelihood of local populations through better access to forest resources and the collaboration between forest service and local communities and through the involvement of the private sector.
- Forest Policy, Law Enforcement and Lessons Learnt: Based on lessons learned from project activities, to facilitate and support the development of forest policies and law enforcement by providing relevant findings and justifications to policy makers at all levels. The main program partners and counterparts remain: the State Forestry Committee, the Oblast Forest Department, the Transcarpathian Forestry Technical School in Khust, the pilot lishosps Khust and Rakhiv. These will have the status of "experimental lishosps" in order to legally allow the use of new experimental approaches in management and silviculture.

Fact sheet

Type: Trust fund project
Start: 2003 End: 2010 Status: Closed
Joint venture with: Educational Forestry Center Maienfeld, Switzerland

Region: Eastern Europe

Country: Ukraine

Working domain: Natural Resource Management

Key topic: Organisational development | Self-help groups and CBOs | Silviculture and management of natural temperate forests | Forest policy, legislation and sector governance | Economic valuation of forests and forest service functions | Eco-tourism | Collaborative forest management | Rural livelihood systems | Rural development | Programme and regional level | Capacity building | Methods for knowledge sharing, exchange and anchoring

Funding source: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Staff

Project responsible: Lesya Loyko

Responsible at Delegation/Representation: Pascal Arnold

Responsible at Head Office: Caroline Schlaufer

Advisors, programme officers: Nataliya Kulyk | Natalia Voloshyna | Radmila Ustych

Associated staff: Olga Kostyukova

Contact

Address:
n/a

E-Mail: lesya.lyko@forza.org.ua

Website: www.forza.org.ua