Five representatives of civil society and the Ukranian parliament came to France to describe the impact of war on the environment and request support to assess this damage.
by Rémi Barroux
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia does not only affect the women and men who live there. Environmental damage, biodiversity, is immeasurable and, beyond, the conflict threatens the ecological future of the country.
“About 200,000 hectares of forests, on the front line, were affected by fires. And 700,000 hectares will have to be deminated, which will take ten years,” says Yehor Hrynyk, member of the Ukrainian group Nature Conservation, created in 2014. This 27 -year -old forest expert, was in Paris, Wednesday November 30 and Thursday 1 er December, to evoke The environmental situation in Ukraine . With him, the deputy Yuliya Ovchynnykova, Member of the Commission on the Environmental Policy and the Nature Management of the Ukrainian Parliament, Natalia Gozak, director of EcoAction, important Ukrainian environmental organization, Dmytro Tuzhanskyi, Director of the Institute for Strategy From central Europe, as well as Oreste del Sol, a farmer installed in Ukraine, engaged in the Ukraine civic forum.
parks and nature reserves burnt down and degraded
received by the International Affairs and Sustainable Development Commissions of the National Assembly, they have brushed a dramatic overall table. More than twenty national parks and natural reserves were occupied by the Russians, undergoing various fires and degradations. Massive bombings led to the contamination of around 180,000 m³ of land by toxic substances (oil, heavy metals and TNT contained in missiles). The destruction of wastewater treatment plants has led to significant pollution in conflict areas. “In several coal mines, water pumping systems no longer work, causing significant pollution of water tables,” reported Natalia Gozak.
In a document of July 6, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) evoked the repercussions of conflict on water, air, soils, and therefore the health of populations, listed dangerous substances , heavy metals and toxic materials contained in munitions and in damaged or abandoned military equipment. The OECD had then evaluated more than $ 100 billion damage caused to infrastructure, housing, various buildings and agricultural land, also evoking the problem of rubble and their toxic waste, in particular asbestos and PCB. The institution evaluated at around 900 the number of natural areas affected by Russian attacks and at around 30 % the surface of the protected areas affected by the war.
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