A crime against flowers
Largest habitat of Red List orchids destroyed in Kyiv
Nobody cares anymore about the construction boom around the capital of Ukraine, with the exception, perhaps, of botanists and environmentalists, who sound the alarm every time construction equipment upsets the ecological balance and destroys some rare plant species.
Ecologists were recently up in arms again because builders have just devastated the largest habitat of Red List orchids near the Sviatoshyn swamps in Kyiv oblast. Experts are convinced that if the lawbreakers go unpunished, this situation will be repeated.
According to the National Ecological Center, about 60 varieties of orchids, all of which are on the IUCN Red List, grow in Ukraine. There are 29 species of rare flowers (Western marsh orchid, common spike-rush, and Southern adder’s-tongue) in Kyiv oblast, most of which grew on the territory of the Institute of Fishery next to the Sviatoshyn ponds.
In 2006 biologists found one more extremely rare flower there, the fen orchid, which grows in some 10 to 12 places in Ukraine. It has not been seen in Kyiv since the 1940s. Biologists claim that orchids are the most fascinating blooming plants. Every flower is pollinated by a certain species of insect, the orchids bloom from May until June, and some varieties remain underground for five years.
“The law ‘On the Red List’ states that a territory where at least one Red List plant grows should be declared a nature preserve or monument,” said Oleksii Vasyliuk. “Kyiv’s nature conservation organizations have been trying for years to save the Sviatoshyn swamps. Instead, the Institute of Water Management, which owns this land, set up a subsidiary called Nyvka, which began building country houses. Since any construction should be preceded by an environmental inspection, ecoinspectors and academics have drawn up a report (the first in Ukraine) after exploring the territory of the Nyvka fishing research facility, which recorded the existence of Red List plants.
“Yet the Kyiv City Council ignored this document and allowed Nyvka to continue clearing the area for the construction site. On Sept. 14 this year nature conservation organizations again examined the place where the orchids were growing and concluded that the population of the common spike-rush has been completely destroyed, as well as the majority of the fen orchid population. The area where the fen orchid, Western marsh orchid, and adder’s-tongue grew was divided into plots slated for development. This is clear from the stakes that have been driven into the ground,” said Vasyliuk.
Local environmentalists have urged the company to stop the construction, but with no apparent effect. Now nature conservationists are demanding that Kyiv’s State Ecological Inspection either fine or prosecute the offenders. An estimated 500 orchids have been destroyed, spelling losses totaling several thousand hryvnias.
“Recently, some plants were destroyed in Kharkiv,” Vasyliuk added. “The losses stemming from the destruction of orchids amounted to five million hryvnias, but the inspecting bodies valued the plants at just 400 hryvnias. So no one knows how the current conflict will end.”
Environmentalists are convinced that in order to prevent similar situations, the offenders should be punished harshly under the applicable law, and the public should finally change its attitude to nature.
