Environmental activities
The Siverskyi Donets river near Lysychansk, Luhansk region, September 2018. (OSCE/Maksym Levin) Photo details
Hostilities in eastern Ukraine have been harmful to the region’s environment. The crisis also brings a significant increase in the risk of incidents at industrial and infrastructure facilities. Following an assessment of conflict-related environmental risks, the Co-ordinator focuses its efforts on establishing a system of monitoring that would enable the government and citizens to better understand the risks and prepare adequate response measures, and in promoting policies for the sustainable use of resources, especially in water management.
An important portfolio of projects implemented by the OSCE aim at improving Ukraine's preparedness to meet challenges to chemical and biological security. They include efforts to strengthen the regulatory system and capacities to identify controlled and toxic agents; improve control over cross-boundary movement of dangerous substances; and enhance Ukraine’s emergency response capacity, and the safety of its laboratories.
Working across the borders with Ukraine’s neighbours, the OSCE also assists with projects to improve co-operation on adapting the Dniester basin to the challenges of water quality and quantity, climate change and wildlife, and to reduce the radiological risks generated by wildfires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.