The Emerald Network of Ukraine is the Ukrainian part of the Emerald Network of Europe, which has been under development since 2009.
The Emerald Network comprises Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCI). The Emerald Network is being planned in the states that are parties to the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, which are a total of 50 states, plus the European Union (EU). In EU Member States, the Natura 2000 network is being established in accordance with the Berne Convention; it is designed on similar principles to the Emerald Network, but utilises the legal and financial instruments of the EU.
The lead organisation responsible for developing the Emerald Network in Ukraine is the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources. The first phase of the Network (2009–2016) was developed by the charitable organisation ‘Interecocentre’. During this period, descriptions were prepared for 271 sites. Between 2017 and 2019, the non-governmental organisation has been responsible for the design of the Emerald Network. In 2017–2018, justifications for the creation of a further 106 Network sites were developed and submitted for consideration by the Berne Convention. During the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on 4–6 December 2019, 106 new sites were added to the network (No. 272–377). – Includes a complete list of all protected areas of Ukraine that are part of the Emerald Network, with the numbers indicated, on the Berne Convention’s website.
Prerequisites for creation
The Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (hereinafter referred to as the Berne Convention or the Convention) was opened for signature on 19 September 1979 and entered into force on 1 June 1982. As of April 2026, 51 parties have acceded to the Convention, including the European Union. In 1996, subject to certain reservations set out in Law of Ukraine No. 436/96-VR of 29 October 1996, Ukraine also signed the Berne Convention on 17 August 1998, and ratified it on 5 January 1998. The Convention entered into force in the country on 1 May 1999.
The establishment of the Emerald Network stems from Recommendation No. 16 (1989) of the Standing Committee, which states that the Parties to the Convention should adopt legislative or other measures to designate the areas of the Emerald Network (ASCI), and ensure their conservation. Such an area must meet one or more of the following criteria: a. it contributes substantially to the survival of threatened species, endemic species, or any species listed in Appendices I and II of the convention; b. it supports significant numbers of species in an area of high species diversity or supports important populations of non or more species; c. it contains an important and/or representative sample of endangered habitat types; d. it contains an outstanding example of a particular habitat type or a mosaic of different habitat types; e. it represents an important area for one or more migratory species; f. it otherwise contributes substantially to the achievement of the objectives of the convention.
Although Recommendation 16 had established the criteria for ASCI as early as 1989, the actual design of the Network did not begin until 1998, following the adoption by the Standing Committee of Resolution No. 5, which gave the Network its official name 'the Emerald Network', and established a group of experts to work on the design of this network.
Recommendation No. 16 (1989), Resolution No. 3 (1996) and Resolution No. 5 (1998) of the Bern Convention provided initial, albeit limited, guidance on how the areas of the Emerald Network should be designated. Since, within the European Union, following the adoption of the Habitats Directive (1992)Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A31992L0043) and Birds Directive (2009).Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32009L0147) Following the adoption of EU directives, the process of establishing the Natura 2000 network began, and it became necessary to harmonise the process of establishing these ecological networks, which share a common objective. In 2006, the process of harmonising the procedures for including ASCI sites in both networks began. It is envisaged that the Emerald Network sites, which were designated according to the same criteria as the Natura 2000 network sites, will be granted Natura 2000 status following a new country's accession to the EU.
In 1996, the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention adopted Resolution No. 4 – Listing endangered natural habitats requiring specific conservation measures. The lists of animal and plant species and habitats in Resolutions 4 and 6 are periodically updated on the basis of proposals from Member States.
The inclusion of areas in the Emerald Network is based on recent scientific data from the past few years regarding the presence in these areas of a certain proportion of the national population of species listed in Resolution 6 of the Bern Convention and/or areas of habitat types listed in Resolution 4 of the Bern Convention. The lists of species and habitats set out in these Resolutions are gradually being updated with contributions from Member States. Ideally, each country’s Emerald Network should be developed on the basis of a national database containing up-to-date information on the distribution of species and habitats as specified in Resolutions 4 and 6 of the Bern Convention.
Biogeographic approach
The inclusion of sites in the Emerald Network is based on the so-called biogeographic approach. The biogeographic approach means that the assessment of whether specific sites in the Emerald Network are sufficient for the long-term conservation of species and habitats is carried out within biogeographic regions. A biogeographic region is an area with relatively uniform ecological conditions and similar characteristics. The division into biogeographic regions is used in the planning of the Natura 2000 network in EU Member States, and in the planning of the Emerald Network in other countries.
The territory of Ukraine is divided between the Continental Biogeographic Region (which roughly corresponds to Polissia and the East European forest steppe), the Steppic Region (corresponding to the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone and the subtropical zone in the Crimean Mountains), the Alpine Region (the Ukrainian Carpathians) and the Pannonian Biogeographic Region, which includes the lowland part of Zakarpattia Oblast.
An assessment of whether the designated areas of the Emerald Network are sufficient to achieve the Network’s ultimate goal—ensuring the long-term conservation of species and habitats under the Bern Convention that require special conservation measures (as listed in Resolutions 4 and 6 of the Bern Convention)— also takes place at the biogeographic level during biogeographical seminars organised by the Bern Convention Secretariat as the Emerald Network is expanded in various countries.
The main difference between the approaches used in establishing the Emerald Network and the areas of the Nature Reserve Fund lies in the fact that the Emerald Network includes only those areas that are important for the conservation of species and habitats listed in Resolutions No. 4 and No. 6 of the Bern Convention within the context of biogeographic regions, whilst the decision to include areas in the Emerald Network is taken solely on the basis of scientific information regarding the presence in such areas of a certain proportion of the national population of species or habitat areas covered by the aforementioned Resolutions. The official decision to include territories in the Emerald Network is taken by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention upon the proposal of a State Party to the Convention. A management plan will be developed in the future for each territory in the Emerald Network with the aim of conserving each of the species and habitats present within its territory.
One might get the impression that the Emerald Network covers only a small number of species and habitats; however, in reality, ensuring their protection would mean safeguarding virtually all areas within the country that are of genuine value for biodiversity conservation.
Development (2009–2019)
2009–2013 As of 2009, no inventory of biodiversity or monitoring of it had ever been carried out in the country.Костюшин В. А. Про проєкт державної служби моніторингу видів фауни та флори України, які перебувають під охороною закону // Ойкумена, 1993. — № 3. — С. 69-70.Костюшин В. А., Губар С. І., Домашлінець В. Г. Стратегія розвитку моніторингу біологічного різноманіття в Україні. — Київ, 2009. — 60 с.
Between 2009 and 2011, the first Joint Programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe was implemented to support the extension of the principles of the Natura 2000 network through the Emerald Network in Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus (hereinafter referred to as the Joint Programme). In Ukraine, the work was carried out by the charitable organisation ‘Interecentre’. The aim of the project was to identify and describe areas that met the criteria for inclusion in the Network; by the end of 2011, the official developers of the Network in Ukraine had proposed 151 areas for inclusion. Subsequent projects (October 2012–October 2016) were implemented under the second Joint Programme, funded by the European Union: ‘Establishment of the Emerald Network of Protected Areas – Phase II’. The projects under the second Joint Programme were aimed at establishing a fully operational pan-European Emerald network by 2020.DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION — European Union — Council of Europe Joint Programme for the preparation of the Emerald Network of Nature Protection Sites, phase II (DCI-ENV/2012/289-173) Version 2, May 2014
As the final outcome of the work carried out under the 2013 project, the Network’s official developers (the Interecocentre Charitable Foundation) prepared documentation for the designation of 159 Network sites, comprising: 18 nature reserves; 6 biosphere reserves; 43 national nature parks; 18 regional landscape parks; 31 protected areas of national and local significance of other categories; 6 Ramsar wetlands; 13 wetlands and 24 areas of high biodiversity, including species and habitats listed in Resolutions No. 4 and No. 6 of the Bern Convention.https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=2621629&SecMode=1&DocId=2170182&Usage=2 Even from this list, it can be concluded that the selection of territories was carried out administratively, rather than by creating a database and using it to identify territories that ensure the Network is sufficient for each of the species listed in Resolution 6 and the habitats listed in Resolution 4 (a catalogue of habitats that would assist in this matter will not be published until 2019) . Between 2013 and 2015, only 10 additional areas were included in it. In 2015–2016, the first round of biogeographical seminars was held to assess the adequacy of Ukraine’s Emerald Network for the conservation of species and habitats under Resolutions No. 4 and No. 6 of the Bern Convention.
2014–2015