The environmental cost of war conflicts: Ukraine, a ‘watchmaking pump’

A study in the magazine Science It reveals that the blasting of the Kakhovka dam in the Ukraine War released a “toxic clockwork bomb” for pollution locked in the sediments of the reservoir, which expanded through the flooded lands.

One more case of how the environmental cost of ‘wars’ prolongs damages once they end

In the early hours of June 6, 2023, one or more explosions fractured the Presa ucraniana de kakhovka, Russia controlled from the first day of the invasion that gave rise to the guerra actual.

The unstoppable flood of the reservoir flooded populations and farms, destroyed infrastructure and caused an indeterminate number of victims. The waters already go to your channel, however there is less visible but enduring damage, the environmental medio, How to analyze a study published in the magazine Science.

It might seem that, in the face of the human life cost of a war, talking about its environmental impact is almost frivolity. But the authors of the new work, led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries In Berlin: “Although the attention of the media focused on the immediate impacts of floods on the economy, society and politics, our results show that the Toxic pollution In the exposed sediments of the old reservoir bed is a threat, In the long term and long ignored, for fresh water and marine ecosystems and estuaries. ”

The Garnero of Europe contaminated by war with Russia

The analysis calculates that the emptying of the reservoir exposed to the air sediments containing more than 83,000 tons of Heavy metals of industrial origin, such as lead, cadmium, nickel, zinc and others, to which contamination by Nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture.

A small part of this sediment, about 780,000 cubic meters, was dispersed by the waters, which also dragged about 450 tons of fuels from the dam plant of the dam and the flooded gas stations.

In addition to the immediate effects of the flood on the lands crossed by the Dnieper River until its mouth in the Black Sea, this “toxic watchmaking bomb”, as the authors call it, “can have negative consequences in different systems of the human organism,” says the first author of the study, Oleksandra Shumilova; “For example, heavy metals can cause cancer, congenital disorders, damage to the nervous system or endocrine and many others.” It should not be forgotten that Ukraine is considered the barn of Europe, or at least it was before the war.

Syria

“It is true that in war the first urgent priority is the humanitarian need, the conservation of life, health and well -being of affected civilians,” says the environmental geo -scientific Jonathan Bridge, of the University of Sheffield Hallamwho has not participated in the new study but has investigated the Pollution of the soils caused by the civil war in Syria. “But the environmental impact should not be ignored.”

Bridge explains that these effects are manifested immediately: the destruction of water infrastructure, sanitation and hygiene extends a pollution that leads “hunger, poverty and disease among people who have already been displaced by the conflict,” he says, citing as an example the outbreak of cholera in the northwest of Syria Since 2022.

But Bridge underlines the “lasting legacy after war”, an environmental degradation that hinders recovery once the conflict is over, affecting natural resources, the agriculture and other needs and activities. “In summary, without adequate consideration of the environment in war and in the construction of peace, the human and economic costs of war are prolonged and intensified.”

World War I

A clear example of how the threat of these sequelae is still present for generations is between northwestern France and Belgium. There some of the longest and most bloody battles of the World War I, The first large -scale conflict where industrial production and chemical weapons were used massively.

Certain areas remain so contaminated that they remain sealed, as the call Red Verdún Zonewhere up to 300 uncovered bombs persists per hectare and even 176 grams of arsenic per kilo of grounda pollution that kills 99 % of plant life. Estimates talk about ages Until these areas are safe again.

Atomic bombs and the case of Vietnam

There is no war that has not left its toxic legacy. Survivors of bombs Atomic of Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered leukemia and other diseases.

Today these Japanese cities are safe, but not the regions of Vietnam where the UU spread the orange agent. The dioxins containing this herbicide and defoliant are persistent organic pollutants that They are still present in the breast milk and blood of the Vietnamese population, and that have been associated with congenital defects and cellular alterations.

The case of Vietnam illustrates how are developing countries that take the worst part. “We see effects on the health of maternal exposure to the toxic remains of war, and limited access to arable land, which causes food insecurity and malnutrition,” he says Stacey Pizzino, of the University of Queensland, an expert in public health related to disasters and wars, which has not participated in the Ukraine study.

In Irak, The high levels of titanium and magnesium found in children by the waste of the war se have related to an increase in neurological disorders.

In Gaza, even before the current conflict, the presence of Heavy metals in mothers and newbornstogether with congenital defects for exposure to white phosphorus and other pollutants.

The pollution extends beyond the regions devastated by war. In 2006 the Israeli bombardment of an energy plant in Lebanon poured 110,000 barrels of oil into the Mediterraneancausing a Environmental disaster. The UN investigates the impact of the current Gaza Warin which every day they are poured to the ground and the Mediterranean 100,000 cubic meters of wastewater.

Climate change and war conflicts

The regions that have suffered war leave the most vulnerable communities to other damages, such as those caused by climate change. “In post -conflict communities where infrastructure is still recovering, the impacts of Extreme weather phenomena They are complex, “says Pizzino.” In Libyain 2023, there were unprecedented floods and reports of land mines in the waters after the storm Daniel. ”

At least, this is no longer such a problem ignored. According to Bridge, since the beginning of this century The number of studies on the environmental impact of wars has been fired. Organizations like the British Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEObs) They focus specifically on it, and in 2022 United Nations approved one resolution on environmental protection in relation to armed conflicts. At the Cop28 Climate Summit of 2023, held in the United Arab Emirates, this issue was addressed for the first time.

Returning to Ukrainethe blasting of the Kakhovka dam is not the only environmental damage; Other experts are studying los multiple damage that will leave the war. The study on the dam predicts that in two years the biodiversity will be recovered in the flooded areas, and that in five years 80 % of the functions of the ecosystems will be restored.

As for heavy metals, for authors the most viable solution is the BIORREMEDIATION with plants that absorb pollutants. But they add: “Any plan for the recovery of the aquatic ecosystems of Ukraine damaged by the conflict requires that the war ends”.