The impact of conflict on the natural environment has been massive through wars such as the Iraq-Kuwait war, Vietnam War and many more. The environment is protected during war under the 1976 Convention on the Prohibition of Military or any Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques and Article 21 under Stockholm declaration. However, these legal instruments have little impact, as with much of international law, and struggle to keep up with the modernisation of new destructive technologies.
The conflict in Ukraine has led to severe poisoning of both water supplies and the air. The serious contamination of such critical resources means that there is an immediate need for those in governance to clean up after war.
Background
Until the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Eastern Ukraine was an economic hub for the Russians. Many European countries such as Switzerland, Germany, France, Great Britain and Belgium invested to build the Donbas region specifically. Ukraine inherited the heavy Soviet-style industrialised economy which ran on non-renewable energy sources. The extractive industry contributes around 12% to Ukraine’s GDP. Ukraine is a leading producer of many critical materials required for green technologies such as gallium, titanium, nickel, manganese and uranium. The rampant shelling and targeting of such critical resources by both sides has damaged the ground water quality and released radiation from nuclear plants. This has exposed the population to several health hazards.
Current Scenario
The conflict is concentrated predominantly in Eastern Ukraine – the region that shares a border with Russia. This region remains highly industrialised. On the other hand, the western region stands in stark difference to the urbanised east. It is the agricultural basket of the country producing essential food commodities such as wheat. The simplistic divide is merely economical. The difference in the economies means that Western Ukraine, though comparatively least affected by war, needs to be prioritised when it comes to environment rebuilding to ensure food security. Those in power in Ukraine should adopt a bipartite strategy by creating schemes for both food and energy security. Synergy between the extractive and the agricultural industry can be established by mining corporations providing critical help in agricultural value chains. These schemes need to be thoroughly examined before implementing them to avoid creating a more tense relationship between the two sectors.
The populated regions, especially Donetsk Oblast, are the energy hubs of the country. The coal industry has been under crossfire for being non-transparent and exploitative. The extractive industry runs on product sharing agreements where the only privileged contractors can get into agreement with state-owned mineral assets. It has led to corruption. The devastating effects of war have amplified the issue of mine workers. The lack of investments in clean coal technology and re-skilling of coal miners for greener jobs has led to violent protests.
The decentralised environment policy allowed local governments in each administrative unit to manage the natural environment. It gives local governments the power to take independent decisions on creating a more sustainable future as they are aware of the spatial heterogeneity. There have been no reports suggesting that a decentralised approach is successful at reducing environmental degradation. The issue lies in the fact that there has been a lack of co-ordination between the central and local governments to address the underlying socio-ecological issue.
In 2018, Ukraine harmonised its laws with EU and EITI standards to improve the transparency and accountability of mining projects. It was a commendable step in maintaining the credibility of the mining sector in Ukraine. However, it will be difficult to restore institutional trust. Many individuals are applauding the current president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy for being a war hero. However, one can’t cast a blind eye on his tenure being a victim to scandals. The evident institutional distrust played out during the revolution of dignity. The violent management of protestors came under the radar of human rights groups. Corruption is an inevitable way of life that neither socialist nor capitalist governments can escape. The war has brought the institution and citizens together. The citizens have placed their trust in the armed forces.
As part of its application to join the European Union, Ukraine has started adopting more sustainable economic reforms. These reforms need to implement a quasi-constitutional framework to make the environment protection enforceable. The main question is whether Ukraine will be willing to restructure itself as a carbon-neutral economy. The economy will clearly be in shackles considering that it will try to recoup its economic losses by not only relying on multilateral institutions, but it is more likely heavily export its mineral resources to improve its balance of payments.
In order to ease the transition to a greener economy, Ukraine needs to negotiate its position with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) to become Annex-III instead of Annex-I. The Annex-I are group of industrialized countries who are not eligible for climate change financing. On the other hand, Annex-III provides finance for developing countries to transition to a net zero economy. Ukraine’s economy has been severely impacted by the war. It will take a long time to improve its economic pace. Hence, it can be categorised as a developing country. This makes Ukraine eligible for Green Climate Financing (GCF). GCF will be a way to infuse and incentivise the economy of Ukraine to be greener. The government should consider slowly converting its coal plants to improve its already progressing renewable energy capacity. This can help diversify its GDP basket and improve its stagnant economy in the long run.
Conclusion
Ukraine can rebuild its environment if it makes sincere efforts to improve its environmental governance and actively restructure its mineral-heavy economy for the better. Ukraine has to equally prioritise the most affected zones. It has to bridge the gap between the east and the west. Ukraine needs to negotiate its position with UNFCC to transition to net zero quickly. Thereafter, these suggestions for Ukraine to restructure its economy to be carbon-neutral can take place. However, the question of whether Ukraine will remain a united country is still uncertain.
