On September 10, BKNUC scholars initiated and held a seminar on the topic “Community Strategic Planning Documents and Nature Conservation: Theory and Practice”.

The event was co-organized by the NGOs “Ecosocium”, “Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group”, “Environmental GIS of Ukraine”.

Participants in the seminar included Yuliia Ovchynnikova, Head of the Subcommittee on Forest Resources, Biodiversity and the Nature Reserve Fund of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management, representatives of the Cherkasy Regional Military Administration (Department of Ecology and Natural Resources, Department of Regional Development), the Regional Development Agency of Cherkasy Region, the Kholodny Yar National Nature Park, territorial communities of Ukraine, public activists, students of the Educational-Scientific Institute of Natural and Agrarian Sciences (future ecologists, biologists, agronomists, and teachers).

Thanks to the hybrid format, more than 70 participants joined online, including developers of community strategic planning documents, staff from specialized departments of Amalgamated Territorial Communities (ATCs), specialists and experts from public environmental organizations, as well as employees of environmental protection institutions and universities.

During the discussions, experts addressed key issues such as why nature conservation cannot be ignored in developing community strategic documents, the role of environmental components in the strategies of Cherkasy communities, and practical examples of implementing landscape planning at the local level. They also examined the proposals for solving the problem of degraded lands, planning green and blue infrastructure in communities, and the experience of public oversight in formulating comprehensive spatial development plans. Presentations were delivered by specialists from Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy, the NGO “Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group”, the NGO “Ecosocium”, TU Dresden / Institute of Geography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the NGO “Environmental GIS of Ukraine”, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, the NGO “Ekodia”.

As a result of the seminar, the participants developed joint recommendations for further work in the field of strategic planning, taking into consideration environmental priorities.

The Educational-Scientific Institute of Natural and Agrarian Sciences