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Dear
friends!
The
mission of our work group is to report on the
environmental consequences of Russia’s
full-scale war in Ukraine. Together with experts
from all over the world, we not only analyze the
consequences, but seek solutions that will
ensure nature protection when conflict
activities end. With this aim, UWEC team members
attend conferences, participate in seminars, and
provide expert commentary. A couple of months
ago two large events took place, at which the
environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine
were discussed — World Water Week in Stockholm
and the conference of the European Society for
Ecosystem Restoration in Tartu, Estonia. Special
attention was paid to the problem of
restoring the ecosystem of the Kakhovka
Reservoir. Our expert Eugene
Simonov took part in the discussions.
You can read about the results of the conference
in more detail in his article:
A post-war
response that is Green Deal-oriented requires
coordinated work at various levels. The most
important thing, however, is that local people
are engaged and involved. Imported ideas and
solutions that are not adapted to the needs of
local communities (known in Ukraine as
"hromady"), will not be
effective. It is crucial, therefore, not only to
engage with, but also to hear the demands of the
local population. UWEC Work Group journalist and
expert Viktoria Hubareva
traveled to the shores of the former
Kakhovka Reservoir, whose bed
is now covered by the “green sea” of a
recovering forest ecosystem, to learn about the
needs of local communities and the challenges
they face:
Every
month, the UWEC Work Group’s editorial board and
experts prepare a review bringing together the
most important events related to the
environmental consequences of the war and the
search for solutions. In the latest issue, you
can read about a study of the impact of
pollution on groundwater in Ukraine resulting
from military activity, as well as the
potentially disastrous environmental impact of
the “shadow fleet” used by Russia to bypass
sanctions in the Baltic Sea, and also the
importance of Ukraine becoming a signatory of
the Rome Statute to support efforts to recognize
ecocide as an international crime.
Over the
past year, there has been a sense from global
media coverage that there have been fewer
high-profile events in Ukraine. This is not the
case. Environmental pollution in Ukraine and
Eastern Europe is continuing at the same pace,
if not increasing. Military action is already
occurring on the territory of both Ukraine and
Russia. Industrial facilities, oil storage
facilities, and forests are burning, and it is
believed that an accident at a plant in Russia’s
Kursk Region has led to a transboundary
catastrophe and pollution of the Seim
River. The river flows through Russia’s
Belgorod and Kursk regions, as well as the Sumy
and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine. The pollution
of the Seim has also led to pollution of the
Desna River, which feeds the Kyiv Reservoir.
Read more about the consequences of
environmental pollution in this article by UWEC
Work Group journalist and expert Viktoria
Hubareva:
As we
analyze the environmental consequences of
Russia’s war in Ukraine, our experts are
increasingly coming to understand that it may
take years to overcome them. In particular,
solving the issue of the pollution of the
environment with military waste will take a
significant amount of time, since vast
areas of the country are now heavily
mined. The issue of landmines is one of
the chief threats to both infrastructure
restoration and the development of agriculture
in Ukraine, as well as for conservation areas,
some of which are currently not able to provide
their recreational services. Read
Oleksiy Vasyliuk’s analysis of
the long-term effects of landmines in
Ukraine:
You can
find more texts and news about the environmental
consequences of Russia's full-scale invasion of
Ukraine on our site, on Twitter
(X), Facebook, Telegram and
BlueSky
We wish
you strength and peace!
Alexei
Ovchinnikov, editor of UWEC Work
Group |
