Ukraine has been elected to the World Heritage Committee. This occurred during the 24th session of the General Assembly of the states parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, currently taking place at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Ukraine was supported by 134 countries.

Representatives of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, including Vasyl Pokynchereda from the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve and Oleksandr Yarosh from Uzhanskyi National Nature Park, participated in this historic event. The Ministry of Ecology will soon designate an expert in natural heritage to represent our country on the World Heritage Committee.

Now, Ukraine, along with 20 other members of the World Heritage Committee, will be able to achieve significant success in the protection of cultural and natural heritage in Ukraine, despite Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. Currently, Ukraine has 8 sites on the World Heritage List, with only one, the "Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe," belonging to natural heritage.

It's worth noting that the object "Beech Primeval Forests of the Carpathians" was initiated by Ukraine and Slovakia in 2007 and is transforming into a pan-European object, including 93 component parts from 18 European countries with a total area of about 100,000 hectares.

In total, there are 15 clusters in Ukraine protected within seven nature reserves, covering over 25% of the entire heritage. Thus, Ukraine is a leader both in terms of area and the number of component parts.