OREANDA-NEWS. August 07, 2014. The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resource of Ukraine plans in short terms  to finalize work on creating Chornobyl biosphere reserve on the basis of the alienation zone. Minister of Environment and Natural Resource Andrii Mokhnyk announced during a briefing at the House of the Government.

 According to him, Chornobyl biosphere preserve is suggested to be comprised of the largest part of the alienation zone’s territory, which is around 230 thousand ha. The area will be divided into several functional zones: the nature reserve, a buffer zone and the zone of anthropogenic landscapes. In the process of grounding the division into the functional zones there were accounted nature conditions, location and peculiarities of nature landscape. There were singled out especially precious land areas with the view to preservation and study. At this it is not planned to include into the preserve industrial objects with the total area of over 32 thousand hectares.

“Throughout 28 years the Chornobyl area has been protected and there has developed a unique situation today – both the flora and the fauna are being actively enhanced and restored in this territory,” Andrii Mokhnyk stressed. He added pursuant to the Law of Ukraine “On the nature reserve fund of Ukraine” the territory of the preserve will be the subject for environmental, scientific, ecological and educational activities and the activities directed to restoring of the contaminated lands as well.

After all, the Minister explained, Chornobyl area appears a unique place for scientific research, it is valuable for the entire international community. He added experts of the Global Environment Fund (GEF) had expressed interest to this topic: they had started elaboration of a project document to ground principal stages of sustainable development in the Chornobyl alienation zone through setting up a Research and Environmental Protection Centre.

In the framework of a future international prospect it is planned to create a transborder Ukrainian-Belarusian biosphere reservoir with an area of around 500 thousand hectares. It will also include Drevlyansky Nature Reserve (Zhytomyr region) and the Polesie State Radiation and Ecological Reserve (the Republic of Belarus).