On 5 October 2017, EPL addressed the Ministry of Environment with the request to disclose the list of persons occupying leading positions in institutions of the nature protection fund subordinated to the Ministry of Environment and the list of people that were appointed to the positions of directors and vice-directors in 2017.
The latest open competitions for positions of directors were held in Autumn 2016 and caused numerous scandals because so called “winners” of the competitions did not have even basic knowledge in the field of nature protection management. On the other hand, in many institutions winners of the competitions were never announced although among participants there were professionals with academic degrees in biological sciences and with experience of management of nature protection territories.
The Human Resources Department headed by the state secretary of the Ministry of Environment Hennadiy Dmytrychenko provided general information about the list of people that are currently in the status “acting as” (23 persons) and informed that over the year of 2017 five new “acting” directors were appointed.
The reason for such a big number of directors that are in the status of “acting as” is the fact that in spring 2017, contrary to international practice, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted amendments to the legislation introducing the requirement for a candidate to the director’s position in an institution of the nature protection fund to have a degree in biology, geography or environmental studies. While in the developed countries the main criteria are the level of knowledge, professional skills, managerial experience, Ukrainian law-makers decided to ground their decisions on formal education.
In view of the total corruption of the system of higher education of Ukraine, there is no doubt that necessary degrees can be easily “obtained” (in fact “bought”) in the course of getting the second degree. This kind of “education” will not bring new knowledge or cause change of the general outlook. For example, the director of Vyzhnytsia National Nature Park where there were recorded numerous violations of environmental legislation and massive forest logging, has the second degree in environmental studies.
As a result of this situation, a number of directors of national nature parks including those whose work is highly valued by other professionals, de-jure cannot run for the position of directors because they do not have a degree in the relevant field.
At the same time, EPL believes it is inacceptable situation when people are appointed to positions in the status “acting as” in a non-transparent way. This is potentially a corruption scheme and as we see from our reality people can occupy positions for years without any competitions. For example, Oleksandr Shpinov who had been the acting director of Nyzhniodnistrovskyi National Nature Park for almost tow years was dismissed from this position only after he was declared wanted for a criminal violation. One of the biggest protected area in Ukraine, the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve is still headed by Mykola Rybak who in summer 2016 was caught for a bribe by investigators of prosecutor’s office and national police.
According to the law of Ukraine ‘On Access to Public Information”, the Ministry of Environment is obliged to disclose reliable, accurate and complete information in reply to information requests and disclosure of unreliable or incomplete information can be challenged in court.
Therefore, we addressed the Ministry of Environment again with the request to disclose full lists of current directors of institutions of nature protection fund of Ukraine subordinated to the Ministry of Environment and full lists of people who were appointed to these positions during 2017.
For further information please contact:
Petro Testov, EPL environmental scientist
email: office@epl.org.ua, petro.testov@gmail.com
tel.: (032) 255 76 82
