18:04 30.03.2022

Ukraine calls for creation of Intl Scientific, Expert Center for Monitoring Consequences of Armed Conflicts

4 min read
Ukraine calls for creation of Intl Scientific, Expert Center for Monitoring Consequences of Armed Conflicts

Deputy of Kharkiv Regional Council, President of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils Serhiy Chernov asks the European Committee of the Regions to help create an International Scientific and Expert Center for Monitoring the Consequences of Armed Conflicts, which would minimize the environmental consequences of Russia's armed aggression in Ukraine.

"This is a rather difficult task, so we are appealing to the European Committee of the Regions to help us create such a Center, find an opportunity to partially finance the Center, provide it with the necessary modern equipment and technology. The functioning of the Center will promptly inform European countries about possible environmental accidents and disasters on the territory of Ukraine and threats of transboundary transfer of hazardous pollutants," Chernov said at a meeting of the EU Committee of the Regions.

"Thus, we will make an invaluable contribution to the prevention of irreversible pollution of the environment, the elimination of negative consequences in cases of accidents and disasters, the prompt restoration of the natural environment and the protection of public health," he added.

Chernov stressed that the aggressor deliberately chooses the most vulnerable, environmentally hazardous facilities (oil depots, gas and oil pipelines, storage facilities for radioactive waste, toxic substances, including chlorine, ammonia, complex hydrocarbons, etc.) as targets for shelling, of which there are more than 20,000 in Ukraine.

"As a result, we already have dozens of not only local, but also regional environmental disasters associated with massive pollution of the atmosphere, soil, surface water and groundwater with hazardous substances. This is not only a problem for Ukraine. I want to emphasize the inevitable transboundary transfer of any pollutants" Chernov noted.

He also pointed to the risks of flooding the reactors at the Zaporizhia NPP.

"According to experts, the flooding of the reactors at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant as a result of the destruction of any dam located above the reservoirs – Zaporizhia, Kamianka, Kremenchuk – will inevitably lead to flooding, and consequently, the explosion of all six nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, that is, a global catastrophe, including radioactive contamination of the Black and Mediterranean Seas ... Therefore, I believe that protecting the environment in Ukraine from the consequences of Russia's military aggression is ours common goal," Chernov said.

In his opinion, in order to prevent environmental disasters on a European scale, it is already necessary to ensure the collection of reliable up-to-date information on the state of environmentally hazardous facilities on the territory of Ukraine and each specific community, as well as to ensure constant online monitoring of pollution of all components of the environment, their changes, in those locations and regions where the aggressor has already struck at environmentally hazardous facilities, which led to severe environmental consequences. Chernov also pointed out the need for a rapid assessment, with the help of highly professional experts, of the possible consequences and threats for the environment and the population of the communities. In addition, he considers it necessary to develop short-term operational recommendations and an algorithm for their implementation for local and central authorities in order to prevent from negative consequences or reduce risks for the environment and the population. It is also necessary to develop medium-term and long-term forecasts of changes in the environment and, based on them, recommendations and an algorithm for their implementation for local and central authorities in order to prevent from negative consequences or reduce negative risks for the environment and the population.

"We believe that these tasks can be achieved through the creation of an International Scientific and Expert Center for Monitoring the Consequences of Armed Conflicts on the basis of the State Ecological Academy of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. The functioning of such a Center will allow the implementation of the above tasks not only at the level of the central government, but also at the level of regions, districts, communities. To do this, the Center will create its own regional branches," Chernov said.

As one of the possible sources of funding for the creation of the Center, he proposed the redistribution of resources provided in the EU and UN system for programs in Belarus and the Russian Federation.

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