On February 16, 2015 the National Discussion of the preliminary results of the Public Assessment of the Ukrainian Environmental Policy in 2013 was organized in Kyiv in the premises of the Aarhus Centre by the Ukrainian National Environmental NGO “MAMA-86” (UNENGO “MAMA-86”) in the framework of the Building Environmental Democracy in Ukraine project, funded by the European Union and implemented with the participation of a wide range of environmental NGOs.

The Public Assessment of the Ukrainian Environmental Policy is a continuation of practice which was created in 2003 and revived in 2011. This is an important tool of civil society consolidation and involvement in the monitoring, evaluation and influence on shaping of the future environmental policy.

Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine Serhiy Kurykin welcomed the participants of the discussion and wished them a productive meeting. Oleksandr Klitko, Manager of the Sector “Environment” of the European Union Delegation to Ukraine in his greeting emphasized the EU support of the environmental reforms in Ukraine during a long time. Executive Director of the Ukrainian National Environmental NGO “MAMA-86” Zoriana Mishchuk told the participants about the complicated way of the drafting and adoption of the Environmental Policy Strategy and the National Action Plan for its realization, and about the important role that civil society, in particular UNENGO “MAMA-86”, played in this process by promoting wide civil society discussions of these key documents and taking into account the public comments by the Ministry. 70 civil society representatives and officials from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine and other authorities and international institutions took part in the discussion of the draft Assessment, its conclusions and recommendations.

Despite the fact that the Assessment considers the period that has passed some time ago, almost all challenges, threats and recommendations remain relevant nowadays and allow to estimate the consequences of implemented changes and to prepare useful recommendations. The next Assessment of the Ukrainian Environmental Policy 2014 will follow after the finalization of the 2013 Assessment.

The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine also visited the event and answered questions concerning national issues and regional challenges dealing with war, local environmental problems and offences. According to the public opinion, the management in environmental sphere and the environmental consequences of the war in the Eastern Ukraine are the most urgent problems. The Minister suggested creating professional expert groups to work on solving the specific tasks with the participation of a wide range of NGOs that have expertise and motivation. It was decided to create a Working Group on Donetsk and Lugansk regions to monitor the current situation and to provide proposals/immediate steps after liberation of the conflict areas. The experts and Relocated persons, who used to work in environmental sphere there, have expertise and understand the problems in this sphere are decided to be involved this Working Group. There was also a proposal to create a working group on the complex analysis of the current practices and existing mechanisms of the interaction between the Ministry and NGOs (the Public Council and others) in order to find ways to improve the efficiency of this interaction.

We are grateful to all the participants for taking part in the discussion and encourage sending all your suggestions and comments to the Assessment draft to e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it up to 23.02.2015.