A meeting was held under the chairmanship of the deputy head of the Lviv OVA Oleksandr Kulepin regarding the regulation of jeeping and the protection of nature and active tourism routes in the region.
These are races, rallies, trophy raids and other events that take place using off-road vehicles (cars, buggies, ATVs) in natural areas.
As noted by those present, representatives of the Department of Tourism and Resorts, the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Lviv Oblast, the State Environmental Inspection, law enforcement agencies, forestry, environmentalists, lawyers, tourism operators, heads of territorial communities, jeeping is popular among tourists looking for extreme .
At the same time, heavy-duty vehicles often travel on natural (including nature-reserved) territories, which violates the regime of their protection and use.
It destroys plants and animals, destroys the natural appearance of the landscape, soil cover, paths and places of active tourism, provokes erosion (especially on mountain roads and slopes), creates threats of emergency situations.
In addition, as noted by representatives of territorial communities, residents often complain about speeding, noise and dust or mud created by jeeps on the territory of settlements.
According to documents in Ukraine, “Jeeping” is prohibited on the territory of the objects of the nature reserve fund by a number of normative acts. However, in practice, the rules and prohibitions regarding jeeping do not work. At most, the participants of such races very often harm forestry, for example, they destroy barriers that prohibit the entry of vehicles into the territory, thus hiding their crime.
Those present got acquainted with the foreign experience of solving this problem in Poland, Canada, and the USA. For example, in the Republic of Poland jeeping is completely prohibited on the territory of national parks, in the USA it is prohibited in most national parks, some decide independently where, when and in what quantity heavy-duty vehicles can drive, fines for violations amount to 5 thousand dollars or imprisonment for 6 months.
Also, the participants of the meeting considered how in practice prosecution is ensured for violations of the norms of the current legislation and in particular Resolution of the CMU dated May 10, 2022 No. 575 “On the approval of special fees for calculating the amount of damage caused by the violation of the legislation on the nature reserve fund”.
Oleksandr Kulepin emphasized that the issue of preservation of the nature reserve fund is extremely important and its relevance does not decrease in wartime. Solving the jeeping issue, in his opinion, requires a comprehensive approach. If we talk about a complete ban, then the implementation of this norm must be properly controlled, if it is a partial permission in certain territories – everything must be clearly prescribed with the absence of harm to the environment and nature, and also proper control.
According to the results of the meeting, the region plans to form a working group from the Lviv region, which is ready to work on the issue of regulating jeeping. In particular, it is about the development of a model of control and sanction of punishment, control over compliance with the execution of punishment, proposals where off-road (jeeping), motocross and the movement of other motorized vehicles (licensing) could be allowed.
The group will formulate proposals for changes to the Legislation where necessary with effective planning, prevention, and control procedures at the community level. Together with the CMU and the Deputies Corps, he will work out the proposed changes to the Legislation of Ukraine.
It will also contribute to the implementation of new laws and by-laws on the territory of the region, and its participants will be involved in communication and education on this issue.