The forest sector holds a crucial, yet underestimated role in Ukraine’s green reconstruction
On 13th June, the fifth All-Ukrainian Forestry Forum took place during the international exhibition “Woodworking” in Lviv, bringing together scientists, woodworkers, foresters and other key stakeholders to discuss important issues concerning the forest sector.
The event was held in honour of the 150th anniversary of the Ukrainian National Forestry University (NLTU), with many of the university’s scientists delivering speeches at the event.
The audience at the Fifth All-Ukrainian Forestry Forum in Lviv
Notably, Professor Orest Kiyko, Head of the Department of Furniture and Wood Technology Products at NLTU and partner of the CircHive project, discussed the green reconstruction of Ukraine, and the role that the forest sector could play in this.
Despite concerns often cited by Ukrainian entrepreneurs, such as lack of staff, issues with raw materials and organisation of labour, he emphasised that, given the urgency of the climate and biodiversity crises, sustainable development must be a priority for the country’s reconstruction, particularly as it looks to join the European Union.
Unlocking the potential of Ukraine’s forest sector
The forest sector “is a branch that unites all kinds of economic activity, sub-sectors and industries” Kiyko reminded the audience in his speech.
Professor Kiyko speaking about the importance of the forest sector for Ukraine
The sector brings important social and economic benefits to Ukraine by providing high quality materials with strong physical and mechanical properties. But beyond this, forests and wood are also extremely important for reducing carbon emissions through:
The absorption effect – trees absorb carbon
The storage effect – the more wood products there are, the more carbon can be contained
The substitution effect – a wooden house theoretically replaces a concrete one
Despite this, a recent European study has shown that the power of forest sector is severely underestimated not just in Ukraine, but across the continent. This is mainly due to national authorities seeing the sector as confined to activities solely within the forest itself when, in reality, its impact extends far beyond that.
According to the study, the economic power of the European forest sector is €1,114 billion. In other words, 1 out of 16 euros is generated by the forest sector.
Taking neighbouring Poland, which has a similar level of forest resources as Ukraine, as an example, Professor Kiyko suggests that for a successful and sustainable reconstruction, Ukraine should aim for its forest sector to occupy around 10% of the country’s economy. He believes that this is a plausible target given that prior to the war, it already represented 4.5% of Ukraine’s economic activity.
Job creation must be the focus for Ukraine’s green reconstruction
Whilst the forest sector does bring benefits in terms of money generated, through products sold, profits and taxes, this is not what is important for reconstructing Ukraine’s economy. Rather, the priority should be the creation of stable, well paid jobs which would incentivise the 5 million Ukrainians currently working abroad to return to the country.
The forest sector could be crucial in achieving this. Currently in Europe, 17.5 million, or 1 in 16, jobs are generated directly or indirectly by the forestry and wood industry. If logging was to reduce by just 1%, over 160,000 jobs could be lost. Furthermore, Kiyko suggested that further value could be added to the economy in the future if the state were to encourage the deep processing of wood, as this would create higher wages and consequently more collected taxes.
However, to achieve this potential, Kiyko points out that Ukrainian woodworkers will increasingly need to export to EU markets due to reduced domestic demand. To be able to do so, they will have to meet certain “green criteria” set by the EU, particularly after the Regulation on deforestation-free products is passed in December 2024.
Helping the forest sector to value nature
As part of the CircHive project, Kiyko and a team of scientists at NLTU are working with two Ukrainian woodworking enterprises, Agrodrew and Millwood, to develop ecological processes that will guide these companies in this direction.
The plans that they draft will consist of 4 documents: the ecological footprint of products, the ecological footprint of the enterprise, a model for sustainable development and a biodiversity strategy.
He hopes that this will serve as a pilot project which other woodworking organisations can use to improve their ecological footprints, and ultimately strengthen the Ukrainian forest sector’s position in EU markets so that it can positively contribute to the country’s green reconstruction.
This blog was adapted from an article originally published on Derevyynnyk.com.