Are orchids a nuisance?

News about development projects in green belts or the parceling of nature preserves comes as no surprise anymore. The craving for a dacha in a picturesque setting or a posh mansion in a city park is simply too great to make business people and government officials adhere to the law. And nobody cares about the ensuing environmental damage. It appears that nature has ceased to be of any value to us. This is a deplorable fact, and such indifference is causing unique natural areas to vanish from the map of Ukraine. Now an orchid field in the regional landscape park Kinburnska Kosa is in jeopardy. Millions of orchids grow there on an area of 63 hectares. Nowhere else in Ukraine is there such a unique spot. However, according to the rulings by local authorities, 53 hectares of this field are to be allotted for parceling and developing. What are the threats to this unique nature reserve, and how can it be saved? The Day asks these questions to Zinovii PETROVYCH, director of the regional landscape park Kinburnska Kosa.

Why is the territory of the park being parceled for development?

“Only a part of Kinburnska Kosa [a spit in the western projection of the Kinburn Peninsula, also referred to as “Kinburnska kosa,” which belongs both to the Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts – Ed.] has been allotted for development. Thus, a part of its territory is now to be parceled out, while another part is to be used for the development of the adjacent village of Pokrovka. The matter is that the entire village is incorporated in the area of the nature preserve fund, since at the moment of the creation of the park the village as such didn’t exist — it didn’t have any definite status. That is why the area was incorporated into the park, and the situation has remained unchanged until now.

“The village used to have 350 households. In 2009, a new general development plan was approved for Pokrovka, according to which the village may be extended by another 590 households. And it lies precisely on the territory of the valuable natural complex.

“We once had specialists audit the area. According to their results, there are 20,428,365 rare plants on the land under development. And you should picture to yourself what development means: someone gets 0,25 hectares of land, builds a house on the plot, which will kill everything under it; then they have a right to have a garden where no one is going to grow rare species. Thus, it means a total destruction of the orchids and other unique plants. Out of those 590 parcels, 90 percent have already been allocated. This amounts to roughly 140 hectares. As a result, when everything is destroyed, the damage to the environment will be worth 278 million hryvnias. This data is taken from a commission statement made by scholars, ecologists, and representatives of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources in 2009. Unfortunately, it did not hamper the process of land distribution.”

On what grounds are the development decisions issued, given that this land is part of a nature reserve fund?

“Distribution takes place outside the village boundaries; this is the prerogative of the raion authorities. However, within the village of Pokrovka, the land is parceled out by the village council. Thus the threat to the existence of the orchids is real, because construction outside the village is already under way, while the allocation of land has virtually been completed, so the probability of destroying this unique area is extremely high.”

How much has the area of the park shrunk after those decisions were passed, and what has actually remained in its possession?

“The scheme is quite clever, leaving the area of the preserve apparently intact. The residents, who get parcels for developing, also get safe conducts from the State directory for environment protection. In reality it is a fiction, since it allows for the possibility to allot land on the village council level. However, the lands which are part of the nature reserve fund are supposed to be allocated by a Cabinet of Ministers decision. In other words, we can observe a corrupt collusion which helps to squander the most valuable land resources.”

What will happen to the orchids?

“Of all the parcels allocated for the development of the village, around 50 are situated in the orchid field. For instance, an area of 0.25 hectares can hold 2,000 plants. Soon, with the beginning of blossoming season for the biggest species of orchids, the number of plants will even grow. These are indeed large groups of plants, and the chances that they can survive in a developed area are negligible.

“This area is indeed unique. I have never heard of any such orchid fields anywhere else in Ukraine. The Black Sea Preserve is located nearby, but there are no such fields. Kinburnska Kosa has so many orchids because we can observe a coincidence of several nature factors. Firstly, we are at the sea shore, and secondly, these plants grow only on salty meadows, which is exactly the type of soil we have in the park. We have seven species of orchids, while other preserves have just one or two.

“So far we have done a reckoning of what can really become extinct. The main part of the orchid field is being parceled out — almost 32 hectares. Now out of 63 hectares of the orchid field only 10 hectares are intact. That is to say [only those 10 hectares] could remain intact.”