Hackathon Water
Addressing War-Linked Threats to Water in Ukraine
CEOBS
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.

Facts
Participants
Teams
Mentors
Judges

Dr Juliane Schillinger
Water and climate in armed conflict | Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre

Dr Maksym Soroka
Associate Professor Environmental Impact Assessment Manager, Project Manager

Iryna Babanina
Environmentalist, environment and war researcher
Mentors
Judges

Nickolai Denisov
Deputy Director, Zoï Environment Network

Dr Mariia Pavlovska
Researcher
Testimonials
Veronika Zhukova
Senior Researcher
Participating in the competition taught us to work as a team and understand each other’s strengths. The tools Ecozagroza and Saveecobot are useful for carrying out an environmental citizen science project in Ukraine. The main obstacles are low environmental awareness, which requires raising through education, and the lack of centers for the development of environmental citizen science in Ukraine.


Mykyta Rozvod
University Student
We’ve mastered cooperation and deepened some ideas on the given topics. We brainstormed and gave the idea a more scientific approach. The Copernicus satellite imagery tool and Google Scholar are useful for carrying out an environmental citizen science project in Ukraine. The main obstacle is the war and the economic state of the country.
Nisha Javed
University Student
Participation in the Challenge taught me that I communicate well within a team and can generate practical ideas. It’s always great to work in a team and exchange ideas. Tools like Telegram and various apps are useful for carrying out environmental citizen science projects in Ukraine. The key obstacles are funds, training people, and monitoring those who have been trained.”
