By Ralf Roschlau
CONFLICT
From 1950 to 2000, over 80% of the largest armed conflicts worldwide took place in biodiversity hotspots. Last year, analysts from the Europe-based research group Initiative on GHG Accounting of War assessed the climate and environmental damage caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine. They found that in the first year, the number of fires covering an area larger than one hectare increased 36-fold compared to the year preceding the war. The fires occurred close to the front line and often led to the destruction of forest areas.
The total war-related greenhouse gas emissions for the first 12 months of war were assessed at 120 million tonnes of CO2. This is just slightly less than the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Belgium.
This research is part of the “Global Stocktake”, a central component of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, to monitor its implementation and assess the progress made towards achieving its goals.
The reconstruction of Ukraine’s destroyed infrastructure will generate further emissions, due to the use of carbon-intensive concrete and steel in the construction and renovation of buildings.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources are documenting environmental damage, and launched a hotline to report environmental crimes. The government estimates the cost to the environment by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam at almost €1.4 billion (
