Efforts have been continuously made to recognize large-scale environmental destruction as an international crime and subject to prosecution at the International Criminal Court. Ukraine used the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to sound the alarm about Russia's ecocide.
During her visit to Kyiv this year, Greta Thunberg told reporters that "ecocide and environmental destruction is a form of warfare as Ukrainians by this point know all too well, and so does Russia." She also denounced the passivity of world leaders towards it. "I do not think the world reaction to this ecocide was enough. We have to talk louder about it, raise awareness about what is going on", the environmental activist said.
Ukraine's push at COP27
In a video sent to COP27, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argued that the planet "cannot afford to fire a single shot," accusing Russia of diverting the world from the necessary "collective actions" to combat climate change. "There are still people for whom climate change is just rhetoric, 'marketing,' and not a real event. These are the ones who stand in the way of achieving climate goals. (...) They are the ones who, in their offices, mock those who fight to save life on the planet, while in public, they support actions for the defense of nature. They are those who start wars of aggression when the planet cannot afford to fire a single shot, because it needs collective action", Volodymyr Zelensky said in the message.
Ukraine has dispatched two dozen officials to the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to spell out the links between the war launched by Russia in February 2022, the soaring cost of energy due to Russia's status as a key gas supplier, and the planet-heating emissions expelled by the offensive. Svitlana Grynchuk, Ukraine's assistant environment minister, said that heavy shelling and the movement of troops and tanks have polluted the air, water, and land, besides killing thousands of people and decimating the country's economy. According to Grynchuk, a fifth of Ukraine's protected areas had been ruined by the war, with the contamination of previously fertile soils alone costing US$ 12.5 billion.
By July 2023, the destroyed areas of Ukrainian territory and the number of protected areas have rapidly increased, with the estimated damages amounting to tens of billions of dollars. And the disaster is expanding.
What causes the disaster
Academics (https://blog.degruyter.com/) identify the main causes of the ecological disaster :
- The detonation of missiles and artillery shells unleashes many toxic substances, accumulating in the surrounding soil, wood, turf, and other structures. Explosions in the air release chemicals that may cause acid rain, which changes the soil's acidity and can cause burns to people, plants, animals, and birds. Ukrainian territory has been contaminated with the remnants of military ammunition on an enormous scale.
- Russia is deliberately trying to destroy the Ukrainian economy. The airstrikes primarily target critical Ukrainian infrastructure, industrial facilities, oil and fuel depots, chemical and pharmaceutical warehouses, and municipal facilities such as sewage pumping stations, power storage stations, and railroads. This leads to contamination of soil, surface, and underground water with various chemical components and organic compounds. Moreover, return water from settlements flows into the Dnieper River and further into the Black Sea and the Azov Sea without being treated, spreading pollution to these regions. This has caused the death of many dolphins and other marine species.
- Military activities have affected one-third of Ukraine's natural reserves, large areas of wetland designated for protection under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. The movement of heavy equipment, the construction of fortifications, and military operations are damaging soil cover. This has led to the degradation of vegetation cover and is exacerbating wind and water erosion. Approximately 2.9 million hectares in the Emerald Network (an ecological network comprising Areas of Special Conservation Interest) are being threatened by destruction. It is a habitat for thousands of plant and animal species. Many bird species used to migrate through what is now the war zone. Their paths have probably changed.
- Fires in Ukraine resulting from hostilities also pose a significant threat to European biodiversity. Due to the high intensity of shelling, the work of firefighters has been restricted and complicated. Monoculture pine plantations in northern and eastern Ukraine have helped fires to spread faster. Higher air temperatures are also increasing the risk of fires. Last year, the fires in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone seemed to have contributed to releasing radioactive substances into the atmosphere, which have been carried over considerable land areas.
- Furthermore since on June 6, Ukraine suffered a major ecological catastrophe. The collapse of the Kakhovka dam in the south of the country sent water thundering downstream, killing more than 100 people, according to Ukrainian officials, quoted by CNN. The water wiped out villages, flooded farmland and nature reserves, and swept up pollutants like oil and agricultural chemicals as it made its destructive path toward the Black Sea. Volodymyr Zelensky described the collapse as "an environmental bomb of mass destruction." The causes of the collapse have yet to be established – whether it was targeted as part of Russia's war in Ukraine or a structural failure – but what is certain is that it is one of the biggest ecological disasters Europe has seen in the last few decades. And Ukraine is calling it "ecocide."
- Indirect impacts include emissions related to reconstruction but also the production of weapons. They also include anything that immediately impacts everyday living that enhances emissions, such as the unnecessary release of carbon due to forced migration. The delivery of humanitarian aid has a large carbon footprint.
Will COP28 recognize Russia's ecocide?
An extensive investigation by Ukrainian scientists, conservationists, bureaucrats, and lawyers is now underway to ensure this is the first conflict in which a full reckoning is made of environmental crimes, so the aggressor can be held to account for a compensation claim that currently stands at more than € 50bn. Only in the case of the Kakhovka dam's collapse has the environmental damage estimated at €1.2bn. (https://www.reuters.com/)
Ukraine bets on the recognition of the ecocide committed by Russia and of the estimated damages at COP28, together with new commitments regarding the increase of renewables, support of green agriculture, and reduction of the use of fossil fuels. It remains to be seen if the summit held in the UAE will cover these requirements.
