CEOBS

Addressing War-Linked Threats to Water in Ukraine

Russia’s war against Ukraine is creating a range of direct and indirect threats to its water resources and is reducing the government’s capacity to monitor and respond to them. These threats are also emerging at a time where Ukraine’s water resources are under increasing pressure from the climate crisis.

Water management and governance in Ukraine is dispersed across a range of institutions and actors. Many of these have been impacted by the war. For example, river monitoring stations and facilities have been damaged or rendered inaccessible. Elsewhere, expertise has been lost and resources overwhelmed. Some civic water initiatives have emerged, and they have the potential to help support local and national authorities. Civic initiatives can also be used to help boost community engagement and participation on water issues, and to help ensure that authorities are more responsive and accountable to their needs.

The Challenge is connected with 2 other DigiEduHack Challenges developed by the GROMADA partnership, namely: “The Ukrainian academic community for soil quality in Ukraine”, and “The UA Academic Community on the Legal Dimensions of Citizen-Generated Data” This Challenge is part of the EU-funded GROMADA project (European universities supporting legal and community capacities for Ukraine’s environmental recovery, https://gromada-erasmus.eu/, Project number: 2023-1-SE01-KA220-HED-000151848)

Water challenge materials

  1. Mapping the vulnerability of Ukraine’s groundwater, https://ceobs.org/mapping-the-vulnerability-of-ukraines-groundwater/
  2. The environmental consequences of the war against Ukraine; Preliminary 12-month assessment, summary and recommendations, https://ceobs.org/the-environmental-consequences-of-the-war-against-ukraine-preliminary-12-month-assessment-summary-and-recommendations/ 
  3. Assessing environmental damage in Ukraine, https://ceobs.org/paper-assessing-environmental-damage-in-ukraine/ 
  4. Case study: Destruction of Irpin Dam, Kozarovychi, Kyiv oblast,  https://ceobs.org/ukraine-damage-map-irpin-dam/ 
  5. Case study: Karachunivske Reservoir Dam, Kryvyi Rih oblast, https://ceobs.org/ukraine-damage-map-karachunivske-reservoir-dam/
  6. Case study Kakhovka Hydropower Plant,  https://ceobs.org/ukraine-damage-map-kakhovka-hydropower-plant/