ECOSYSTEM PAYMENTS AND CONSERVATION OF FOREST ECOSYSTEMS OF UKRAINE: ABROAD EXPERIENCE AND MARKET PRICING

Environmental issues are too important for the modern world, especially for Ukraine. This topic, despite its relevance, is far from complete. One of the most effective methods of solving these problems is environmental taxation, which makes it possible to introduce regulatory levers of influence on consumers of Natural Resources. Different countries have developed their own approaches to the implementation of tax methods in the mechanism of environmental relations between the state and its counterparties. At the same time, other alternative schemes of these relationships are being introduced. Environmental tax rates in Ukraine lag behind European ones (which is an additional, too influential reason for slowing down in solving environmental problems), and given the European choice of Ukraine, it is relevant to review the current environmental tax rates. This is exactly the goal set in this study. The economic interests of the state and its counterparty consist in determining the amount of ecosystem payments for natural resources, the essence of which is their intended purpose ‒ the preservation, reproduction or restoration of ecosystems, their potential and functions. The authors prove that the current procedure for determining the cost of natural resources through their prime cost is fundamentally wrong and erroneous in its essence, since it does not meet their regulatory purpose. The fundamental reform of the sphere of environmental taxation should take into account: first, the presence of state ownership of Natural Resources in Ukraine; second, the definition of environmental payments as the cost of ecosystem services provided by the relevant ecosystems; third, the need to introduce market elements in the pricing system for these services. Using the example of forest resources, the author's own approach is justified and our own methodology for determining ecosystem payments as the cost of ecosystem services provided by these resources to their consumers is proposed. The cost of ecosystem services for forest ecosystems consists of the cost of assimilation services (absorption of harmful substances by forest ecosystems – carbon dioxide) and the cost of oxygen-producing services (generation of oxygen by them). This ensures that not only and not so much the level of cost of Natural Resources is taken into account, but also, importantly, the use value of ecosystem services provided to consumers by ecosystems. However, the cost of Ecosystem Services determined in this way should be considered as the minimum allowable (basic) level of their price. In the future, to respond to the ratio of supply and demand in the ecosystem services market, it is proposed to apply additional elements of the tender pricing procedure, which brings the process of estimating the cost of these services closer to fairer pricing. The authors believe that the mechanism of tender adjustment, provided that the auction price increases above the minimum allowable (basic) level, is a kind of tender protection of the state's interests in establishing these payments.