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Dear
Friends!
It
has already been a year since UWEC Work Group
began analyzing the environmental consequences
of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During
that time we have developed an important center
of resources, websites, and organizations that
collect data and perform analyses. Some of these
share publicly available data in the context of
the ongoing war. Others monitor the information
space.
We are confident that the
information we have assembled will be useful for
a wide circle of readers and analysts and we
want for each of you to have the opportunity to
independently gain an understanding of the
invasion’s environmental consequences. We are
making this information freely available and we
will update it over time. We welcome your
participation and support in this
work!
One
key issue stemming from the invasion is chemical
contamination of soil, the consequences of which
will haunt Ukraine for many years to come.
Although a full-fledged study of this problem
cannot be completed during the ongoing
full-scale invasion, efforts are already getting
underway. We analyzed a report prepared by EcoAction experts and note
that soil pollution not only deals a
catastrophic blow to Ukraine’s food security,
but also contributes to desertification
processes.
It
is our goal to discover the widest possible
range of information about the invasion’s
consequences. Ukraine is not the only country to
suffer; the entire region is experiencing this
war. It is extremely challenging, for example,
to implement conservation and environmental
projects fundamentally important to the
sustainable development of neighboring
countries.
Moldova is no exception.
Director of Eco-Tiras International Association
of River Keepers Ilya Trombitskii discusses the
environmental challenges facing the
transnational Dniester River and how the war’s
impacts influence the choice of possible
solutions.
The
war destroys civil society in Russia as well.
Bellona, Greenpeace, and Worldwide Fund for
Nature have all been recognized as “foreign
agents” or “undesirable”. In the short term, it
is difficult to imagine the consequences of
those decisions.
UWEC Work Group supports
all environmental activists facing persecution
by authoritarian regimes, no matter where they
reside or their nationality. Without civil
society activists, we can neither protect nature
nor fence ourselves off from environmental
consequences.
We
continue to track the war’s environmental
consequences on our Website, Twitter, and
Facebook.
Wishing
you strength and
peace!
Alexei Ovchinnikov,
Editor
UWEC Work
Group | 
