Financing of River Basin Management Plans in Ukraine.pdf

Presented at the 11th roundtable on financing water in Brussels, Belgium on 30-31 May, 2024.

Intervention by Mykhaylo Yanchuk, Head of the State Water Agency, Ukraine

1. Financing of river basin
management plans in Ukraine
Mykhaylo Yanchuk,
Head of the State Agency of Water
Resources of Ukraine
May 2024

2. The adoption of river basin management plans (RBMPs) is Ukraine's obligation to implement the
requirements of European legislation, in particular the EU Water Framework Directive.
Regulatory and legal background
Financing of river basin management plans in Ukraine
RBMP is a government document of state planning for the next 6 years (2025-2030).
To implement the European requirements for the implementation of integrated water resources management and to ensure the development of the RBMP in Ukraine:
18 normative legal acts were adopted.
4 regional water monitoring laboratories of the Western region (Ivano-Frankivsk), Eastern region
(Slovyansk), Northern region (Vyshhorod) and Southern region (Odesa) were created to implement
requirements for monitoring priority and specific substances.

3. The first RBMPs for each river basin district will be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for
approval no later than August 1, 2024.
The drafts of the first RBMPs for all 9 river basins, including the temporarily occupied territories of the
river basins of the Crimea, the Azov region, and partially the Don, have been prepared.
Draft RBMPshave been prepared in full compliance with the approaches and requirements of the EU
Water Framework Directive with the support of European partners — the EU4Environment: Water and
Data program.
The current situation with the development of the RBMPs
Financing of river basin management plans in Ukraine
Strategic environmental assessment of RBMPs is ensured in accordance with the Protocol on Strategic
Environmental Assessment to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary
Context.
The requirements of the Water Framework Directive in terms of ensuring public participation were met.
The State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine, with the support of international partners, held 13
events for public discussion.
A total of 677 representatives of the public, scientific organizations, basin councils, state authorities
and water users took part in the discussion.

4. RBMPs are aimed at achieving environmental goals, in particular good status water bodies, within the
specified time. The first cycle of implementation of the RBMP in Ukraine covers the six-year period of
2025-2030.
Program of measures RBMPs
Financing of river basin management plans in Ukraine
The total need for investments for the implementation of RBMP’ measures (1,635 measures) for the first 6-year cycle is 8.2 billion EUR.
92% of the program of RBMP’ measures involves the construction, reconstruction and modernization of treatment facilities and sewage networks.
The implementation of these measures will ensure the achievement of the environmental goals defined
in the RBMPs, such as:
achieving good ecological status/potential for 13% and good chemical status for 89% of surface water
bodies;
achieving good quantitative status for 61% and good chemical status for 37% of groundwater bodies.

5. The Water Strategy of Ukraine provides for the development of legal prerequisites to recovery of costs for
water services, including environmental and resource costs, in accordance with the results of the
economic analysis conducted as part of the preparation of the RBMPs according to the "polluter pays"
and "water user pays" principles.
The recovery of costs for water services
Financing of river basin management plans in Ukraine
The economic analysis of water use shows that the recovery of the costs of water services in Ukraine is 12-31% and does not cover the costs necessary to achieve "good" water status.
The legislation of Ukraine provides for payment of the following payments by water users:
rent fee for special water use,
environmental tax for discharge of pollutants into water bodies,
fees for renting water bodies,
fees for special use of water bioresources.

6. Support for the implementation of the RBMPs requires the development of cross-border cooperation
between countries that share river basins.
RBMP as an instrument for cross-border cooperation
and investment attraction
Financing of river basin management plans in Ukraine
It is important for Ukraine to involve the measures of the RBMPs for the financing of investment funds and
instruments, especially in the conditions of limited funding of the state budget due to the state of war.
RBMPs an important tool for attracting investments, as their measures correspond to priorities for financing within the framework of European funds and instruments, such as::
Ukraine Facility instrument;
Instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA);
Interreg NEXT programme;
LIFE programme

7. Thanks for your attention!
Mykhaylo Yanchuk,
Head of the State Agency of Water
Resources of Ukraine
May 2024