Loss of the territory biological diversity is one of the most serious challenges for sustainable development of Ukraine. Solution of that problem is the essential constituent of the national ecological policy, which is focused on introduction of the ecosystem approach in all spheres of social and economic development, including protection of biological diversity. The goal of the article is to study some aspects of protection of the biological diversity of rural areas by means of ecosystem renaturalization by transforming degraded and marginal arable lands into forests, grassland and wetlands. The research proposes an organizational mechanism of increase and expansion of the territories with natural lands, which includes planning of land use, landscape and ecological zoning, territorial organization, evaluation of ecosystem benefits, land users’ motivation. The researchers stress on the necessity to create ecological networks and agroforestry. Such structural organization of rural area supports a balanced combination of the “human-land-ecosystem” system due to protecting the main ecosystem functions, i.e., provision of regulating and habitat services. While determining the directions of use of the land plots with degraded and marginal arable lands, the obligatory condition is to justify the benefits from those ecosystem services. To regulate the environmental land relations, it is recommended to introduce conservation easement.

The conservation and renovation of biological diversity of territories are of vital importance in Ukraine. The concept of ecological networks has laid the foundation of these issues. In Ukraine, the law “On the ecological network” was adopted, and ecological networks were developed at the regional level. However, most developments do not fully take into account the location of reserved territories and places of concentration of valuable flora and fauna, and also often do not correspond to the principle of formation of a holistic system, which significantly reduces their environmental significance and the expediency of practical implementation. The authors of the article consider that one should estimate the natural potential of the territories in detail and objectively, as well as provide recommendations for practical actions for the renovation of biological and landscape diversity. One can do it in the process of the development of local ecological networks (at the level of separate administrative regions and territorial communities). One has developed the structure of the ecological network on the example of Stryi district of Lviv region and determined the estimation of the spatial connectivity of its crucial elements. The problem is that most of the connecting territories are formed from semi-natural and unnatural lands (hayfields, pastures, arable lands), which complicates the practical side of the project implementation. One needs to develop an effective mechanism to encourage landowners and land users to carry out environmental activities; to increase investments in re-naturalization of lands; to conduct environmental education and environmental public awareness campaign; to provide local government and other stakeholders with consulting services for the development of ecological network development programs at the local level in Ukraine.