As a result of the war, more than 4.7 thousand hectares of forest burned in the Mykolayiv region, almost 17 thousand were littered with GNP

Fire in the Halytsyniv tract as a result of shelling/Emergency Service

As a result of Russian shelling in the Mykolaiv region, 4,787 hectares of forest were destroyed by fire.

This is evidenced by the calculations of the State Inspectorate of the South-Western Region, according to the NikVesti article «Collateral victim: How the war destroys the ecology of the south and what to do about it.»

As a result of forest fires caused by the war, the region's environment was damaged in the amount of 22 billion 413 million 931 thousand 169 hryvnias.

Bohdan Kuchenko, an expert in the climate department of the non-governmental organization «Ekodiia Center for Environmental Initiatives», says that it is difficult to determine the duration of forest recovery after such fires. The process can take from a few years to over a century.

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— This is influenced by a number of factors: the age and structure of the affected areas, the intensity of the fire, soil and climatic conditions. For example, recovery from a low-intensity forest fire in a humid forest can take several years. More often we are talking about several tens of years, and let's say it will take more than 100 years for the complete restoration of an ancient pine or oak forest after a strong fire, notes the ecologist.

Bohdan Kuchenko adds that even on the scale of the entire Mykolaiv region, the impact of the destruction of such a large number of forests will generally be negligible, with the exception of the provision of recreational services. However, certain microclimate changes can be observed within certain communities where a lot of forest has burned down, such as in Halytsynove. For example, increasing winds, increasing temperature changes and decreasing air humidity.

— The forest ecosystems themselves suffered the greatest damage, where shelling and fires led to the death of many living organisms and disruption of the habitats (habitats) of even those animals that were able to survive, mostly large mammals and birds, says the specialist.

Another problem is that forest lands are mined as a result of shelling and occupation. As reported in the Southern Forestry Office of State Enterprise «Forests of Ukraine», 16,800 hectares were littered with explosive objects in the Mykolaiv region. These are the territories of two branches: «Bashtanka Forestry» — 6 thousand, «Mykolaiv Forestry» — 11 thousand. Of them, more than 9 are forestry areas on the temporarily occupied Kinburn spit. Currently, all territories, except Kinburn, have collected documentation and submitted it to the queue for humanitarian demining.

We will remind you that the Snihurivka community has transferred more than a thousand hectares for afforestation: more than 6 million trees will be planted.