News
The War in Ukraine: Impacts on the People, Forests, and Environment
This series of webinars will cover some of the under-reported and studied impacts of the war in Ukraine: how it has impacted the environment and people of Ukraine.
Updated:
February 9, 2024
In this series, attendees will learn about some of the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the forests of Ukraine, broader environment, those who care for the forests/environment, and those who rely on them. Attendees will hear from Ukrainian foresters, researchers, and other experts who are close to the conflict. Attendees will also have a chance to ask questions directly to presenters and learn about some under-reported impacts of the war. Each webinar is an hour and a half with an hour for presentations and a half hour for Q&A.
This webinar series is produced as a partnership between Penn State Extension, Woskob New Century Fund, and Forest Release.
Who is this for?
- Policymakers
- Legislators
- Foresters
- Natural resource managers
- Wildlife biologists
- Wildland firefighters
- Environmental restoration professionals
- Water resources professionals
- Wetland professionals
- Interested members of the public
What will you learn?
- How war is impacting the people of Ukraine
- How modern war impacts the landscape, soil, forests, water
- Under-reported impacts of this conflict
- Details and on-the-ground reports of the impacts of the conflict
- The long-term impact of the war
- What is being done to remediate issues and help the people and environment of Ukraine
- What participants can do to help
 Links to Recordings:
- Introduction to the Ecosystems of Ukraine and the War–March 1, 2024
- Forest Fire Driven by War–March 8, 2024
- Humanitarian Mine Action and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO)–March 15, 2024
- Linking Humanitarian Mine Action and Environmental Issues–March 22, 2024
- War in the Red Forest: Forestry in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone–March 29, 2024
- The Forests of Kharkiv–May 10, 2024
- Fish, Water, and Wetlands through the War–April 12, 2024
- Shelterbelts: A Forest that Protects the Environment, the Future, and Soldiers–April 19, 2024
- Forests and the Frontlines–April 26, 2024
- The Future of Forests in Ukraine: A Discussion–May 3, 2024
- Non-native Tree Species in Ukrainian Forests–October 2nd, 2024
- The Future of munitions-damaged Ukrainian lands–October 9th, 2024
- Demining and Weapon Contamination–October 23rd, 2024
- Where is the Fire? Fire mapping in a conflict–October 30th, 2024
- Fighting fire in a warzone–November 6th, 2024
- AI, Remote Sensing, and Demining–November 13th, 2024
Speakers:
- Andrii Bilous, Head of the Department of Forest Mensuration and Forest Management, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine and Officer in 23rd special battalion of the Separate Presidential Brigade
- Anna McKean, Analyst, the Conflict and Environment Observatory
- Alex van Roy, Deputy Head of Operations, Fondation suisse de deminage (FSD)
- Brian Roth, Director, Forest Release
- Brian Milakovsky, Environmental Consultant
- Calvin Norman, Professor, The Pennsylvania State University
- Catherine Wanner, Professor, The Pennsylvania State University
- Dmytro Karabchuk, Head, ForestCom
- Dmytro Holiak, Professor, Life Sciences University of Ukraine
- Ihor Soloviy, Professor, Ukrainian National Forestry University
- Ivan Moyisyienko, Professor, Kherson State University
- Maksym Matsala, Postdoctoral Fellow, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Nataliya Stryamets, Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Oleksandr Borsuk, Deputy Head of Science Department, Chornobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve of Ukraine
- Oleksandr Lysenko, Deputy Director, North-Eastern Interregional Administration of Forestry and Hunting
- Oleksii Vasyliuk, Conservationist, Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group
- Pavlo Pakhomenko, Independent War Correspondent
- Petro Tarnopilskyi, Senior Researcher, Ukrainian Research Institute of Forestry and Forest Melioration named after G. M. Vysotsky (URIFFM)
- Steven Wallis, Regional Operations Manager, Halo Trust
- Sam Rowlands, Operations Manager Ukraine, Halo Trust
- Sergiy Zibstev, Professor, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine
- Svitlana Sydorenko, Senior Researcher, Research Institute of Forestry and Forest Melioration
- Valerii Koliada, Head of Soil Erosion Control and Remote Sensing Methods Lab, National Scientific Center "Sokolovsky Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry"
