Pathways for Post-Conflict Environmental Recovery in Ukraine through Sustainable Development Lenses

Alexander Belyakov, Independent (Ukraine/Canada)

Post-conflict environmental recovery requires integration with the country’s sustainable development targets and a rediscovery of the environment’s place amid competing priorities. Success demands breaking administrative silos through holistic systems thinking. This presentation critically evaluates the implementation of international recovery frameworks, such as the OSCE’s four phases (Yesterday: data assessment; Today: risk mitigation; Tomorrow: EU-aligned restoration in water, waste, energy, and land; Day after Tomorrow: climate-resilient green economy), against recent developments and international agreements. Innovative tools, such as repurposing demilitarized zones into biodiversity-rich military parks, receive emphasis. Systems thinking highlights undervalued priorities: ecosystem service losses, chernozem fertility decline, veteran-led restoration for social cohesion, corporate sustainability potential, and decentralised renewables for emergency management. Risks (including insecurity, energy crises, vulnerabilities of nuclear power plants, funding gaps, fragmented governance, institutional barriers, data limitations, controversies surrounding legislative implementation, lack of education, and workforce shortages) threaten the phased recovery. New frameworks must build resilience to political, economic, social, and military shocks. Targeted recommendations guide donor organisations.