Raising woods from ashes
Ecologists are gathering data re ATO consequences to revive Donbas environment
An increasing number of websites in Ukraine are warning people in ATO areas to filter drinking water. These warnings stem from environmentalists’ studies. They have even developed a special filter, using a regular plastic bottle, cutting off the bottom and inserting cotton or tissue with layers of sand, coal, and gravel into the nose. Experts say the existing water treatment plants in the ATO areas aren’t functioning adequately, and that the natural sources of fresh water, because of the ongoing hostilities, may well contain dangerous bacteria, so it is best to take precautions.
This is obviously only one of the consequences of the undeclared war for the local environment. The extent of damage to the environment in these areas is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, EPL [acronym for Environment People Law, an international public interest environmental law organization, founded in 1994] experts are doing their best collecting data, asking local environmentalists to submit photos of damaged localities, where and when they can. In peacetime all this will be used as a foundation for a Donbas forest, park, and steppe revival plan.
So far the environmentalists agree that the worst damage was done in a locality near the city of Shchastia, but they may change their mind after receiving and studying more data. Considerable damage has also been sustained by the Sviati Hory (Sacred Hills) National Park, the only one of its kind in the east of Ukraine. Damage is also recorded in the steppe regions that are very important for Ukraine because they host the largest number of Red Data List plant varieties. The worst thing is that in regard to these consequences no one can be tried and made to pay damages, just as there is no way to prevent them.
Says EPL expert Kateryna NORENKO: “If one were to categorize the consequences of ATO hostilities for the environment in the east and the rest of Ukraine, one would come up with several categories: mechanical destruction of landscape – after the deployment of heavy-duty military equipment and artillery: craters left on the territory of national preserves, with shells hitting transformer substations that supply electricity also to industrial facilities. There are industrial projects with high pressure liquefied gas storage facilities, so if punctured, they will explode, emitting dangerous gas clouds that will float further. Artillery shells may hit power lines and leave coal mines without pumps meant to remove mine water with hazardous waste. They may hit water treatment plants in cities and engineering and production facilities with their own treatment cycles; they may hit septic tanks with liquid toxic waste, causing leakage affecting surface and ground waters, finally the main body of water, the river Siversky Donets. When reaching the sea, this would cause transnational contamination.”
What Ms. Norenko says is partially an assumption, and partially an established fact. A friend of mine described the environment in the east of Ukraine as nonexistent, just piles of scrap metal, what’s left of destroyed military equipment. And the dead bodies. According to Ms. Norenko, as from the beginning of last summer, there are many dead bodies to be found in the surface waters, in the ATO areas. This affects not only the river ecosystem, but also the people who use this water, with a higher risk of epidemics: “We’re studying the situation, preparing reports and estimates of regional economic losses. Further, deep-reaching studies will be possible only after the end of hostilities. All we can do now is study NASA satellite remote soil-sensing photos. And yes, we’re being actively assisted by the populace, local environmentalist organizations, even separate businesses that help our monitoring, sending photos.”
EPL experts got in touch with the National Security and Defense Council (RNBO) and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (Minpryrody). Their officials said they wanted to cooperate to provide such information. In actuality, however, no one except some NGOs is doing any fundamental research to that end. Whereas the RNBO’s attitude could be explained by their having to cope with many other problems, the Minpryrody should be hard put to explain why they haven’t made this one of their top priorities.
Natalia VYSHNEVSKA, an ecologist, is convinced that the reason is the unprofessional approach to the pressing problems on the part of the ministry officials: “This is a new problem for our environmentalists, we have no experience of operating in war-devastated territories. International cooperation would be very helpful. The minister of ecology ought to have organized an international roundtable and invited experts with just that kind of experience, so they could offer recommendations to the ministry or work out an action plan to lower the environmental risks, ones we have to cope with in the east of Ukraine.”
Environmentalists will have to look up international practice to learn how to revive the forest belts, infrastructures, and dispose of the mountains of solid waste. This international practice implies UN programs for the restoration of the environment in post-conflict areas, including Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Kosovo – and now, unfortunately, Ukraine.
