Tuzlivski Lymany National Nature Park, located in the south-west of Ukraine, faces low-severity environmental and social problems that remain without due attention from the Ministry of Ecology. The park, which is a unique natural object, is under threat due to mass poaching, ecosystem degradation and conflicts with local communities.
Despite numerous appeals from local communities, authorities, and activists, the park's problems continue to be ignored, which endangers the preservation of this natural treasure of Ukraine.
The main problems of the park "Tuzlivski Lymani":
1. Poaching and illegal fishing: The lack of proper control by the national park management contributes to the increase in poaching within the park. Illegal fishing and hunting put significant pressure on populations of rare and endangered species. The police detect poachers in the national park almost every month, but the problem is not systematically solved - the management justifies it with demand.
2. Problems with water supply: neighboring communities claim that the administration of the national park ignores the problem of regulated water exchange of the estuaries with the Black Sea, because of which the protected estuaries are on the verge of drying up.
3. Extravagance and bloated staff: the annual budget of the national park reaches UAH 6 million, of which almost all money, namely 97%, is spent on salaries for 45 employees. At the same time, such a bloated state cannot cope with its main functions - the protection of the entrusted nature, as evidenced by the mass facts of poaching.
4. Clashes with local residents over lands that are not defined in nature, and therefore lead to conflicts with the "neighbors" of the park. People complain that the management of the national park practices self-seizure of territories and forbids local people to cultivate their plots.
5. "Eternal" temporary management: for almost 10 years, the Ministry of Ecology has not been able to hold a competition for the position of head of the national park, so two people actually replace each other in the position and manage the park in a temporary capacity.
We would like to add that the other day, the Southern Office of the State Audit Service completed the audit of the financial and economic activities of the "Tuzlovsky lymany" NPP. The act has been sent to the management.
Meanwhile, local residents and authorities are calling on the Ministry of Ecology to take decisive action to preserve the "Tuzliv estuaries". They demand to strengthen control over compliance with environmental legislation, preserve the ecosystem and appoint professional managers. The lack of reaction on the part of the ministry threatens to turn the "Tuzliv estuaries" from a unique nature reserve into another ecological disaster zone.
