A Rapid Environmental Risk Assessment of the Kakhovka Dam Breach during the Ukraine Conflict
Publisher: Nature Ecology & Evolution
Author(s): Bryan M. Spears, Quillon Harpham, Emma Brown, Catherine L. Barnett, Louise Barwell, Marta Roca Collell, Mark Davison, Harry Dixon, J. Alex Elliott, Angus Garbutt, Caroline Hazlewood, Barabara Hofmann, James Lanyon, Stephen Lofts, Colin MacKechnie, Sergiy
Date: 2024
Topics: Data and Technologies, Weapons, Waste, and Pollution
Countries: Russian Federation, Ukraine
Assessing habitat and biodiversity loss in active conflict zones is a major challenge1. Independent scientific evidence on wartime impacts is essential to inform the environmental priorities of reconstruction and recovery plans. Such plans are typically developed during the conflict resolution period2. However, evidence to shape biodiversity recovery plans has historically emerged many years after resolution and reconstruction2. The combination of remote sensing capabilities, the availability of global environmental data and impact zone modelling now enable rapid assessments of wartime environmental impacts. Here, we describe an early scientific assessment of the potential environmental impact caused by the Kakhovka Dam breach during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and highlight the need to build on this initial evidence to inform biodiversity recovery plans in the region.