Eco-solutions: UAnimals to lead march in Warsaw against Russian ecocide

UAnimals, an animal rescue and environmental organization, is partnering with the Euromaidan-Warsaw social initiative to organize a march protesting environmental crimes of Russia committed in Ukraine.

UAnimals reported that.

The organizers are urging the global community to hold the aggressor country accountable for ecocide.

The rally will take place on October 19 at 2:00 p.m. in Warsaw.

The march will begin at Zamkowy Square.

"With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, we are forced not only to deal with our internal issues but also to save animals and nature from an external aggressor. For this, we need the support of other countries, so from 2022 we are holding marches abroad.

Nature has no borders, so pollution is already spreading to neighboring countries and has a number of consequences: from the impact on climate change to the deterioration of people's health," Olha Chevhaniuk, head of the strategic initiatives department at UAnimals, said.

This year's march takes place within the framework of the #StopEcocideUkraine campaign, which calls for punishing Russia for ecocide, in particular for blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam.

Additionally, UAnimals aims to engage the global community in demining efforts. Thirty percent of Ukraine's land is currently contaminated with landmines, equivalent to 58 percent of Poland's land area.

For reference:

Ecocide refers to the widespread destruction of plant and animal life, contamination of the air or water sources, and other activities that can lead to a major environmental catastrophe. In Ukraine, ecocide is considered a grave offense and can result in imprisonment for 8 to 15 years.

The issue of ecocide is regulated worldwide by the UN Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Means of Influence on the Natural Environment of 1976, Additional Protocol 1 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and several other legal documents.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, due to Russia's aggression, the Ukrainian environment suffered losses of almost 2.5 trillion hryvnias. The number of recorded crimes by Russians against nature exceeds 5,500. The environment in Ukraine has been severely affected by the full-scale war, leading to catastrophic consequences. As of February 2024:

• over 40% of forest fires have been caused by Russian shelling;
• roughly 67,532,788 tons of harmful emissions have been released into the atmosphere;
• approximately 1,600 tons of pollutants have entered Ukraine's water bodies.

The country also experienced its largest environmental disaster in recent decades: the Kakhovka HPP dam explosion.

Additionally, the Russian military has established camps on the territory of the "Stone Tombs" reserve, which is located near the village of Nazarivka in the Nikolska region of the Mariupol district.

Furthermore, the Russian invasion of the Sviati Hory National Park in the northern Donetsk region destroyed 80% of its forests. The estimated environmental damage to the park is currently around 16 billion hryvnias.