Environmental Accountability, Justice and Reconstruction in the Russian War on Ukraine
Publisher: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Author(s): Jiyayi Zhou and Ian Anthony
Date: 2023
Topics: Assessment, Land, Livelihoods, Renewable Resources, Weapons, Waste, and Pollution
Countries: Russian Federation, Ukraine
Next month will mark one year since Russia began its full-scale war on Ukraine. This large-scale land invasion has had repercussions across the geopolitical, humanitarian, financial, and even food and energy domains. It has also had devastating ecological impacts.
Measurable environmental damage—valued by Ukrainian authorities at an estimated US$46 billion and still rising—includes direct war damage to air, forests, soil and water; remnants and pollution from the use of weapons and military equipment; and contamination from the shelling of thousands of facilities holding toxic and hazardous materials. The longer-term costs for Ukraine with regard to lost ecosystem services are much harder to quantify. On top of this, the war effort has directed government attention and resources away from environmental governance and climate action, posing additional risks for national, regional and global sustainable development.