By KYIV. Nov 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) – From November 30 to December 12, 2023, the 28th UN Climate Change Conference – COP28 – will be held in Dubai. For the second time in history, Ukraine will present its pavilion at the conference to show the scale of environmental damage from war and propose ways to prevent ecocide that are relevant for the entire planet, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine has reported.
“The COP28 platform is intended not only to show the impact of war on the environment and climate. It is a place for uniting and engaging the international community to achieve justice and peace. Ukraine’s goals at COP28 are advocacy for the Environmental Declaration and continuation of international dialogue on the one announced by the President of Ukraine at COP27 Global platform for assessing the damage caused by the war. Despite the war, Ukraine is completing the development of its climate architecture and consistently fulfilling its climate obligations. At COP28 we plan to unite even more partners around our country for the green future of Ukraine and the whole world,” Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets said.
The Peace Formula initiatives of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be presented at the conference. The theme of the Ukrainian pavilion was chosen in accordance with the 8th point of this formula – Environment Safety. The exposition of the Ukrainian pavilion is represented by three semantic blocks. The Kakhovka block tells about one of the largest man-made disasters in the history of mankind – the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam. The Consequences block contains information about the terrible harm that war causes every day. The Recovery block demonstrates how Ukrainians, despite the traumas of war, are trying to revive what was destroyed as quickly as possible. Materials and exhibits for the pavilion were collected from all over Ukraine to reflect how the war complicates solving problems related to climate change.
“The key installation of the pavilion – Roof – is dedicated to the tragedy of the loss of a house due to flooding. It clearly demonstrates thousands of destroyed Ukrainian houses. To create it, the organizers delivered tiles from Kherson region, whose residents experienced the consequences of the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant,” the ministry said.
The importance of food security is highlighted by samples of burned wheat and corn – grains that should feed people around the world, but instead thousands of tonnes of crops are destroyed by missile strikes. The pavilion will also feature a panel with dead Ukrainian black soil – the most fertile soil in the world, which loses its quality after fires in the fields caused by shelling.
One of the key messages of the pavilion is that despite the war, Ukraine is building its future. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to learn the stories of Ukrainians who are bringing parks, cities and agricultural lands back to life, as well as learn about the recovery plan for Ukraine, which includes the implementation of 850 large-scale projects over the next 10 years. Priority programs include Restoring a Clean and Safe Environment, Energy Independence, and Green Deal.
Ukraine will also present an already implemented green energy project, presented in the pavilion at the 2022 conference. One of the results is the Tilihul wind farm – the first in the world built during the war. In addition, the event will launch the Global Platform for Assessing Environmental Damage from War, which the President of Ukraine announced at COP27.
“Despite the challenges of war, our commitment to the green transition in Ukraine remains absolute. Indeed, the war is forcing us to transform our energy system even faster as we understand that renewable energy sources are much more sustainable and safer. DTEK recently completed the construction of a wind farm – Tilihul – just several miles from the combat zone, and we are going to quadruple its size. If Ukraine can do this in a war, think what the world can achieve,” DTEK CEO Maksym Timchenko said.
Teams from the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine worked on the Ukrainian pavilion at COP28 with the support and assistance of the European Union, the Federal Government of Germany, IKI, the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, the UN Global Compact, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Ukraine Recovery and Reforms Architecture (URA), and the largest private investor in the energy industry of Ukraine DTEK Group. The pavilion’s concept was developed by the Gres Todorchuk agency in collaboration with the FORMA architectural office and the Ukrainian production agency how.production.
