Scientific approaches to the use of self-seeded forests on agricultural lands of private property in territorial communities

Abstract

Based on the given data on the level of forest cover in the regions of Ukraine, it was found that forests grow unevenly and, accordingly, this indicator varies from 3.7% in Zaporizhzhia to 51.4% in Zakarpattia Oblasts. It is substantiated that this problem can be overcome through the legal protection of self-seeded forests on privately owned agricultural lands. It was found that most of the problems, shortcomings and gaps in the legislative, economic and political direction related to the use of these lands are settled by the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Preservation of Forests” No. 2321-IX dated June 20, 2022. The concept of self-forested land has been clarified and it has been established that a plot of land is considered to be self-forested, provided that information about the belonging of all its lands to self-forested land is entered in the State Land Cadastre. Studies conducted on the further fate of self-seeded forests within the territories of territorial communities indicate that the preservation of self-forested lands on agricultural lands and natural meadow lands is not always expedient and economically justified in terms of territorial communities in different regions of Ukraine due to their inherent specificities. The facts of the presence of self-forested land plots on the territory of the investigated territorial communities have been established. Accordingly, scientific approaches to their solution are proposed. In particular, it is suggested that with a significant dominance of forest lands in the structure of the community’s land fund, namely, in the case of more than 50% forest cover and the predominance of forest land areas in more than two times over agricultural lands, self-afforestation of agricultural lands on the territory of the community should not be allowed.