CONFLICT OF INTERESTS OF INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY IN THE ECOLOGICAL CORRIDORS OF THE INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE ON THE SOUTH OF THE STEPPE ZONE OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The paper considers the critical situation that arose as a result of the use of synthetic high-molecular rodenticides of anticoagulant action in the Azov-Black Sea and Dnieper migration corridors, which caused mass deaths of animals both in the nature reserve and in agrocenoses. The nature of the Biosphere Reserve "Askania Nova" suffered the most, where 2,355 birds of 22 species died from January to May 2021. Among them are 680 common cranes Grus grus, 270 ruddy shelducks Tadorna ferruginea, 3 steppe buzzards Buteo rufinus, 2 white-tailed eagles Haliaeetus albicilla, 967 rooks Corvus frugilegus, 192 jackdaws Corvus monedula.. Six focuses of common cranes’ death were found in the region of the reserve. The reasons for the use of synthetic rodenticides, shortcomings in the legal regulation of the use of drugs based on Brodifakum and bromadiаlone are discussed. A map of the flights of birds from the places of nocturnal concentration of migratory birds in the Azov-Black Sea corridor is provided, where it is proposed to impose a ban of synthetic drugs using with anticoagulant action and replace them with biological plant protection products. Based on the efforts of the administration of the Biosphere Reserve, its scientists and the intervention of international environmental organizations, the Head of the Kherson Regional State Administration issued an order banning the drugs’ use with the active substance Brodifakum within a radius of 40 km around the Biosphere Reserve "Askania Nova".