On 26 July, the project team responsible for preparing the cross-border cooperation project ‘Protecting the biodiversity of cross-border territories in Ukraine and Poland from the hogweed population’ organised a working meeting in the town of Skhidnytsia with the heads of nine local authorities in the Carpathian region bordering the Republic of Poland, as part of the Interreg NEXT Poland-Ukraine Programme 2021–2027.

      The project team, led by Tetiana Hetman, Director of the Department of Agricultural and Industrial Development of the Lviv Regional State Administration, and comprising Ihor Vuytsyk, Chairman of the Lviv Agrarian Chamber, and Lyudmyla Honcharenko, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural and Industrial Development, gave a presentation on the cross-border cooperation project ‘Protection of biodiversity in the cross-border territories of Ukraine and Poland from the hogweed population’.

       As the spread of hogweed is a very acute problem throughout the Lviv region, the aforementioned pilot project involves the development and implementation of effective eradication mechanisms and, subsequently,  preventing the spread of this invasive plant in the border areas of the Lviv region and the Lublin Voivodeship of Poland, with the subsequent extension of the experience gained to other territories.

     The working meeting was attended by the heads or deputy heads of nine local authorities — Skhidnytsia, Koziv, Staryi Sambir, Turka, Strilky, Boryslav, Skole, Khyriv and Slavska.

      The heads of the local authorities supported the idea of the project ‘Protecting the biodiversity of cross-border territories in Ukraine and Poland from hogweed populations’, as there are very large populations of this plant in each of the communities. Consequently, following the meeting, a memorandum will be signed to agree on the pilot areas where the Project will be implemented, as well as the terms of cooperation between the communities and the Project partners.

        Furthermore, the Lviv Agrarian Chamber, as the lead partner of the project, expresses its deep gratitude to Ivan Pilyak, the head of the Skhidnytsia settlement, for the opportunity provided and the excellent organisation of the working meeting.