On 20 November 2024, the Ukrainian pavilion hosted a press briefing organized by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine together with ICO “Environment-People-Law” entitled “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine: ecocide for the environment and climate as a consequence of the war” that was held in a mixed format within the UN Climate Change Conference (hereinafter – COP29).
The relevance of the event is determined by the need to draw attention of the international community to war-driven consequences for the environment and climate, as well as to the facts of ecocide caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. As part of COP29, this event is intended to be an important platform for discussing environmental challenges related to war and integrating these issues into global climate policy.
Deputy Minister of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Viktoriia Kirieyeva addressed participants of the press briefing with a welcome speech. She emphasized the irreparable damage to the environment of Ukraine as a result of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, spoke about the losses that the Ukrainian environment bears every day, outlined the challenges that Ukraine, Europe and the whole world face in the field of environmental protection and climate change.
Kateryna Polyanska, senior analyst, environmental scientist of ICO “Environment-People-Law”, PhD in Geography, exposed direct consequences of the war for the country’s natural complexes and latent environmental threats. She described the impact of the war on the environment, current danger and possible effects in the future. Kateryna Polyanska noted that military actions pose a serious threat not only to lives and health of citizens, but also to environmental situation in Ukraine, their impact is multifaceted, covering all components of nature, including the climate.
Solomiia Baran, a lawyer at ICO “Environment-People-Law”, spoke about legal aspects of the crime of ecocide in the context of russian invasion of Ukraine. Her report was devoted to legal issues related to ecocide at the national and international levels, as well as proposals for improving the existing legal mechanism to ensure inevitability of punishment of the russian aggressor and its agents for destroying Ukraine’s nature. A separate part of the discussion was devoted to the criteria of ecocide, first developed by Ukrainian lawyers and environmental scientists, which were presented to the event participants for discussion with the aim of further implementation at the national and international levels as well as to a new definition of ecocide. We are convinced that the new definition of ecocide, supported by specific criteria, can become one of the factors that will ensure punishment for the destroyed environment and inevitable effects on the climate in Ukraine and Europe.
The emphasis was put not only on the urgency of environmental problems, but also on the need to improve legal mechanisms at the national and international levels to effectively combat ecocide. Engagement of experts, lawyers and environmental scientists made it possible not only to raise issues of the scale of the war-driven environmental catastrophe, but also to propose concrete steps to recognize ecocide as an international crime and improve its legal regulation at the national level. According to the participants, it is important that these initiatives find support among international community because only joint efforts can ensure effective punishment for causing environmental destruction.
