Subcarpathian Rus
Podkarpatska Rus

14.07.2009: SOS:Ukraine turns Subcarpathian Rus into the dead land.

Introduction

For a long time in the territory of Subcarpathian Ruthenia, adjoining with several countries in the EU and directly affecting their interests, is taking place purposeful, criminal, massive destruction of forests, poisoning of land and water resources by toxic substances, which have already led, and no doubt will lead to massive environmental disaster in all eastern European region.

The crime is systemic, widespread, deliberate and organized.

Motivation of those, involved in this crime, may be different,- from the banal greed in the conditions of absence of efficient governance, rampant corruption and lawlessness in the country, to purely local solutions of domestic problems in Ukraine.

In particular, in the areas of dense concentration of Hungarian nationals (Beregovo district), is built destructive by its environmental impact object - Muzhievo concentrating lead-zinc ores mill.

Moreover, here were exported huge amounts of toxic waste from all over Europe with euphonious name «Premix».

Over the last millennium, our region has never been subjected to such a huge material damage due to environmental crime as in the past 18 years of independent Ukraine.
Over the long history Subcarpathian Rus experienced a devastating invasions of a very different nature; anthropogenic as well as natural: wars, fires, floods, whirlwinds. However, their effects were more local and less ruinous. The current one can be compared to the large-scale military action.
Because of Ukraine, ecosystem in Subcarpathian Ruthenia got disrupted through merciless, uncontrolled deforestation, which resulted in two devastating floods.

Damage from the effects of flooding amounted in two billion euros!
Clandestine launch in 1999 (without relevant expertise and permits) of polymetallic ore mine in Muzhievo, and smuggling of 4 thousand tons of “Premix” actually put region on brink of extinction - either from illnesses or from natural disasters launched by Ukraine.

In this regard, Ukraine should recognize its illegitimate administration and recover damages to the residents (as from 1 December 1991). The experts estimated losses caused by the illegitimate regime, including of what was destroyed, taken away and irretrievably lost during this time. Now all this is legally drawn up and ready for submission to the International Court of Justice.

Which parts were affected the most?

Forest

Back in 1936 the forested area was 48.5% across the province (612.338 hectares), and over the past 10-15 years it declined by 20%. The barbaric clear-cutting (by area) in a delicate ecological balance of the mountains, led to irreversible processes - the erosion of humus (a fertile layer) and the lowering of the upper border of dale forests at 100-130 meters. Clear-cutting an area of about 140 000 hectares have led to permanent loss of

31 600 000 cubic meters of timber, 8000 000 of which was a mature wood (2 bn.U.S.D), and significant changes in varieties of woods. In 1936 beech occupied 58.8% of the total area of forest, spruce 25, 4%, oak 7.9% , fir 3.7%, whilst nowadays deforested areas overgrow by bushes.

Other trouble directly linked to deforestation is floods.
In autumn 1998, within12 hours in the disaster zone were more than 200 settlements and nearly 400 thousand people. 17 people were killed and one missing. There were destroyed more than two and a half thousand houses, nearly three thousand houses need major repairs.

Landslide in the rural village Russkaja Mokra killed four people.
There were great forces thrown to combat the elements and eliminate the consequences of flooding, - about 10 thousand people and thousands pieces of mashinery. Aviators were committing a very complicated trics of landing on the river sediments and shallows, rescuing the victims from the rubble of houses. This way there were rescued 114 people.
In 4-15 March 2001, environmental disaster re-occured. It has covered almost all the champaign, most densely inhabited part of Transcarpathia with the most fertile soils.

According to preliminary data, 1240 homes were destroyed, 32699 submerged, damaged 28 railroad stations, and 14 highways. There were also destroyed 3 and damaged 5 large bridges. Nine people were killed. In flood-affected areas there were revealed 17.5 thousand patients, among them 3977 children ...The November 1998 flood in Transcarpathia was acknowledged catastrophic for the whole of Ukraine. World community called it the world's second-biggest devastation in the past 10 years.

Material damage already exceeds 300 mln hryvnia... However, according to estimates of independent international experts, the flood caused Transcarpathia more than 1.5 billion U.S. dollars losses in total.

To understand the causes of such disasters, it is necessary to refer to the history of these territoties.
Apparently, Green Carpathians remained intact for the longest period of time in Europe. Researchers believe that the man began to encroach into the forest in the upper Tisza as far back as the Bronze Age. During feudal period they mostly cut yew - extremely durable, non-rotting and slowly growing red wood.

They were paying impost by its timber. Therefore, yew soon became a rarity. In the 17 th century they began to lumber other trees as well, and adapted to float timber by rafts. There was unfolded even larger logging after construction of the railroad Lvov-Budapest-Vienna in 1860, which crossed the Carpathians. And, as a consequence, since the mid 19 century, the Carpathians for the first time were subjected to windfalls and flooding. However, in an average of once every 20 years.

Actually, during the Austro-Hungarian dominion (in 1769, Queen Maria Theresa issued the first Forestry Law), in the Carpathian Mountains was carried out generally reasonable forest policy. There were held forest regulations, implemented strict forest laws, have been studied and reserved valuable forest tracts. In addition to public, private and church, there existed urbarial forests belonging to the communities and villages. In some of them foresters prohibited to collect even firewood, mushrooms and berries. Timber was harvested carefully and in small amounts, less than the estimated logging. Fearing erosion, logging was carried out only in the winter, making sure the new trees were planted. At the tops of the mountains, steep and rocky slopes noone even emerged with an ax.

"To rot and decay!”
In the USSR, Carpathian Forest started to turn into a huge logging.

In 1944 decree “About fund of logging for the 1944“, it was authorized to “walk with an ax” in the unique forests. Back then it was logged more than 2 mln. cubic metres of timber. There was an unspoken rule to chop trees above the quota during formation of developed socialism. Only from 1944 to 1963, according to some sources, Ukraine has cut 100 million cubic meters of timber above the planned quota.
In the 1950-52 in the Carpathians was established first Soviet forest regulation.

Large areas on steep and rocky slopes, and along rivers were invected to the second group of exploitation. They lambered beech in the summer instead of winter, thereby provoking terrible erosion. Instead, they planted less valuable spruce, in amounts less than has been cut. In the postwar years in the Ukrainian Carpathians forest has been cut on 279.4 thousand hectares, and planted only on 186.6 thousand hectares.

Post-war five-year slogan "Catch up and overtake" [dognat i peregnat] read another in the mountains - "To rot and decay!" [dognit i peregnit]. In 1951, in the single Vyshkovsky area it was abandoned 650 cubic meters of good forest, Zhabevsky - 1850. But official Kiev was not concerned. In 1952, the Central Committee of Communist Party of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a joint comprehensive closed regulation “About poor logging in the IV quarter of 1952 in the enterprises of the Ministry of Forest Industry of Ukrainian SSR ". They arranged keelhaul to loggers for the low, according to high officials, rate of silviculture in the west of the USSR .

However, instead of increasing logging, they should have achieved complete exportation of already harvested wood.

In 1953 in the Carpathian Mountains 160 thousand cubic meters of timber were left to decay.

In the winter of 1955 the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers adopted one of the most anti-environmental, anti-forest regulations in the history of the Soviets: "About the increase of logging in the central, southern and western areas, and improvement of forest management in the USSR." CC CPU and USSR Council of Ministers duplicated the decree of Khrushchev and Bulganin in two months - in April. There was published a regulation “About the amount of logging in 1956-1960, and the improvement of forest management of the Ukrainian SSR".

According to this regulation, in Ukraine in 1955 and 1956 was officially allowed logging by 30 percent ahead of shedule (in fact they were more significant).

In the forests of the first group was allowed industrial logging.
In 1956, Commission of the agricultural department of the Central Committee of Communist Party of Ukraine and forest professionals, visiting the Carpathians and concerned about the appalling rate of "forestry", informed the Secretary of the Ukrainian Central Committee A. Kirichenko: "Normally loggers refuse the development of forest, located away from forest roads and floatable rivers, and require to provide them logging fund near existing transportation routes“, and the local party and Soviet authorities forced forestries to meet these requirements. It all led to a complete failure of logging, felling on steep and rocky slopes, and clear felling of large areas.

Only in the past 10 years, - continued authors of the memorandum, - in the Ukrainian Carpathians over-felling was 17,3 of estimated logging. On average, in 1956 in the Carpathian Mountains they felled on account of 1974.
At the same time from 1948 to 1955 there were let to decay more than 600 thousand cubic meters of timber. On average, in the Soviet Carpathians annually were abandoned up to 30 percent of harvested wood. It was considered more profitable to let the wood decay, rather than export it.

Now comes the "new wave" of deforestation, which has not yet acquired a global magnitude and which can still be stopped.

As reported by UNIAN (Ukraine), "There is a round the clock felling of Carpathian forests. The population give away the commodities practically for peanuts to feed their families. Uncontrolled felling of plantations has contributed to flooding. "

Among the reasons of an unprecedented destructiveness of flood, there are few highlights: an extra amount of rainfall, neglected over the last years anti-flood management, and massive deforestation.

Heavy rains is the primary, but not the only cause of floods in the Carpathian Mountains. Precipitation, overfilling the mountain streams, heightens the risk of mudslides. Rich in solid stuff water turns into sediment. Speed, and hence the destructive force of the flow increases. Mudflows in the Carpathian Mountains may arise in practically all the mountain streams and small rivers. Most beds of small rivers were subjected to technogenic effect. Traces of skidding of woods are registered in every third small river in the upper Black Tisza, White Tisza, Teresva, Tereblya, Reka.

When heavy rains, the water is not able to seep into the soil. In these cases, puddles are being formed on the flatland, and in the mountains water begins to flow down the slopes. Forest is the natural flow regulator. It is proved that in the Carpathians the lowest flow is observed in the mature leaf forest; it is twice as high in coniferous forest, while in felled areas it is100 times higher than outflow in coniferous forest. There is a link between floods and deforestation.
"Chaotic deforestation, now occurring in the Carpathian Mountains, can be considered as a kick-off to tragedy. It must be stopped, because it would lead to the next environmental disaster.
“Noone can say how much forest is being felled in the Carpathian Mountains at the moment“,- told to «Lesnaja Gazeta» deputy of the Supreme Council of Ukraine, Mikhail Gutsu.(???)

In violation of the Law of Ukraine "On natural-reserved fund of Ukraine", without Environmental Expertise, under the influence of businesses, the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Administration and The State Sports Committee of Ukraine, Ministry of Environmental Resources gave permission to build a freestyle springboard in the protected zone of Mount Hoverla. Last year 0.7 hectares of reserved forest was felled there. However, under the pressure of environmental organizations in autumn 2000 Ministry of Environmental Resources of Ukraine has suspended the construction. Nevertheless, after receiving a positive environmental expertise, based on a scientific conclusion of Ivano-Frankivsk university of oil and gas (what does it have to do with oil and gas?), in the summer of 2001, Ministry of Environmental Resources of Ukraine once again allowed the construction…

Aside from environmental causes of Subcarpathian disaster, there are also economic. According to Integrated program of measures against flooding in the Transcarpathian region, by 2000 it was planned to build 200 kilometres of dike and 51 km of coastal fortifications, to adjust the riverbeds. Due to financial reasons (?), this program was not accomplished even at 50%.

In addition, the parallels: If in France in the 1810 forests covered 15% of the country, now it is more than 25%.
Carpathian Forest covers only for the first 10 years of independence decreased by 20% ... And this is apart from the devastating floods, mudslides, IRREVERSIBLE loss of humus, created here since the time of raging volcanoes…

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