Problems
The hostilities are destroying Ukrainian soil
It takes nature 10,000 years to form black earth. A rocket explosion in the same place would take an instant to destroy it. Most of the fighting in Ukraine takes place where these famous soils are spread. Scientists say: the agriculture losses will be colossal, and for the environment - even worse. 90,000 tons of soil were uprooted by the explosions. This small example allows our imagination to try to grasp the probable scale of the damage that the war is causing to the Ukrainian land. "During the war, the soil is one of the most vulnerable ecosystems. There are several main factors of land damage: the passage of heavy military equipment, the explosion of rockets and other weapons, and the construction of fortifications. As a result of these actions, the structure of the soil is disturbed, which in the future leads to erosion. The loss of fertility is obvious because the fertile soil layer is on the very surface," says Oleksiy Vasylyuk, head of the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group. "The explosion of each munition is a chemical reaction. 100% of the chemical part of the projectile enters the environment: some into the air, some immediately into the soil. Thus, aluminum, copper, and other heavy metals will end up in the ground. As a result of the oxidation of explosives, sulfur and nitrogen enter the air and soil," says Oleksiy Vasylyuk. According to calculations by the Ukrainian Environmental Protection Group, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale offensive, approximately 34% of Ukraine's territory has been subjected to direct military aggression, where the risk of systemic soil disturbance or contamination (mines, oil products, unexploded ordnance, etc.) has already been observed or exists. This is a disaster. But it did not begin on February 24. Even before the full-scale war in Ukraine, there was a tremendous amount of land suffering from degradation due to intensive farming. Yes, the myth of fertility blinded the farmers so much that they did not think about the future, depleting the land. Warfare further exacerbates this problem and can accelerate degradation processes. According to the State Ecological Inspectorate, during the first four months of the full-scale offensive, Russia caused 80.5 billion hryvnias' worth of damage to the land and soils. The negative damage to the agricultural sector from damage to agricultural land should also be noted. According to the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) in the "Review of damage from the war in agriculture in Ukraine", 50% of damage in the agricultural sector is caused by agricultural land (mine contamination or direct physical contamination) and unharvested crops.
Impact on the environment Ukrainian from the destruction of forest strips and soil pollution as a result of hostilities.
In the Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, forest strips were destroyed. If the state does not start work on its restoration, it will turn into a disaster. "Forest strips are artificial engineering structures that were partly created in Soviet times, and partly even earlier. To compensate for the negative impact of plowing virgin steppes, a network of forest strips was created over a total of 40 years. It is they who protect us from dust and snow storms, from the removal of black earth and the impoverishment of land fertility, - said Maksym Soroka, an expert on the environmental safety of the scientific research network of the NGO "Environment". – Forest strips are part of the ecological network (according to the Law of Ukraine "On the Ecological Network of Ukraine") and the Emerald Network (a network of nature conservation areas created for the preservation of species and habitats that need protection at the pan-European level), are centers of wildlife development within the agrarian-changed territory In addition, forest strips and artificial forest massifs help to balance the water regime in the territories of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Donetsk regions, which historically have not had enough water. So the destruction of forest strips is a huge problem that you and I will feel for decades." "War affects the soil and destroys microorganisms. First, what are two-meter trenches? This is both chernozem and clay raised. If you just bury them, clay will be on top. And the Russians generally dig tunnels! Secondly, the land everywhere in the Zaporizhzhia region will be littered with metal - not just mines, but also debris. In addition, we do not forget about fuel spills, local fires, and burning of equipment, - noted Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor, head of the Department of General and Applied Ecology and Zoology of Zaporizhzhya National University Oleksandr Rylskyi. - Undoubtedly, this will be a problem for decades. Only reasonable regulation and state management will be able to fix everything. Recently, the European Union decided that by 2035, 25% of agricultural land should be taken out of circulation, limed or planted with forest to restore natural biocenoses. On the contrary, Ukraine is proud to export millions of tons of grain abroad. Each grain contains the humus of our black soil. It's worth thinking about what will remain here for the Ukrainian people in 100 years."
Solutions
How to save wounded lands?
Author: Professor Svyatoslav Balyuk
Professor Svyatoslav Balyuk says that first of all, the condition of these soils should be assessed, they should be given a certain status, and only then should they look for ways to save them. The Institute also notes that it will take a long time to revive war-damaged lands. Surveying and demining alone will take at least a decade. Costs for soil regeneration will reach hundreds of billions of hryvnias. One of the options mentioned by scientists is to plant land with plants capable of absorbing heavy metals. In this way, the soil will be cleaned. It is also advised to afforest such lands there - some of the trees, the employees of the Institute note, can restore the soil. However, it is currently difficult to say how many resources and time are needed for this. Meanwhile, ecologist Oleksiy Vasyliuk proposes to act radically - to remove the soil mutilated by the war from cultivation and give it to nature for self-regeneration. France did it in a similar way, for example. The territory of the so-called Battle of Verdun, where especially large-scale battles took place during the First World War, was called the "Red Zone" - it is still forbidden to engage in agriculture here. It is 1200 square kilometers on the border of France and Belgium. Local authorities say that it will take several hundred years for these lands to self-cleanse.
Source: https://eco.rayon.in.ua/topics/531138-pole-bolyu-yak-boyovi-dii-ruynuyut-ukrainski-grunti
Gallery
6
Timelines
2022
February 24
Since February 24, Ecodia has been recording pollution and environmental impact cases. Some of these cases concern environmental crimes. From the first days, shelling and bombing of industrial and energy facilities, burning of forests, explosions of oil depots, and pollution of the Black and Azov Seas (primarily due to the ship sinking) were recorded. Specialists of the Ukrainian environmental protection group counted 480 funnels from 82-millimeter shells, 547 funnels from 120-millimeter shells, and 1,025 - from 152-millimeter shells. Ecologists say: here, on one square kilometer of the field, 50 tons of iron, 1 ton of sulfur compounds, and 2.35 tons of copper got into the soil. According to the expert, these and other actions of the Russian army in Ukraine can be considered ecocide, and such a term is even introduced into Ukrainian legislation. Of course, some of Russia's actions during the war may not be classified as ecocide, but they also significantly impact the environment. Now, Ecodia has counted 277 cases.
2015
January 10
In 2014-2015, specially protected natural areas became military training grounds. On protected lands, for example, in the "Chalk Flora," where no one should set foot, separatists from the "LPR" and "DPR" practiced their combat missions, and red-listed birds even disappeared because of this. Environmentalists argue that the demining of settlements will take a long time. And when they will be able to clear the protected areas, is still unclear. According to preliminary predictions, it could take decades. Probably a lot of people who go looking for mushrooms will die. Something will be "cleared" by animals.
2014
March 15
When the fighting first started in the east, the military shells broke the power line. The pumps stopped working, and water from the lower horizons began to rise. It flooded the lower pumps, there was a short circuit, and water stopped being pumped in much of the mines. Grigory Yakovlev, a hydrologist who studied the mines of Donbas, said, "Within seven years, the water could come to the surface. Moreover, it will flood all mines because they are connected by drainage structures. And when the mines are flooded, the ground will be saturated with toxic substances and the Donbas will turn into a toxic swamp.