After the war, Ukraine will lose part of its lands for a long time

First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Olena Kramarenko emphasized in an interview with "RBK-Ukraine" that part of Ukraine's fertile lands will be unsuitable for cultivation for a long time due to pollution as a result of the war. All this is due to the fact that a number of harmful substances enter the soil as a result of hostilities.

In particular, heavy metals such as mercury and lead are part of compounds used to detonate explosives. Quantitatively, the most important compounds in conventional ammunition are explosives. These are TNT, octagen, sulfur, hexogen and tetryl. All of them pose a threat to human health. Rockets do the most damage. Their fuel poisons the soil and water, provokes chemical pollution of the environment. Fires cause air emissions, atmospheric pollution, and they also destroy the fertile layer of the earth. In the future, such degraded soils will not be able to be used for agricultural production for a long time, they will not produce crops. That is, they will be preserved.

At the same time, harmful substances can enter the underground water from the soil, contaminating wells, wells and rivers. Thus, Ukrainians will feel the influence of these substances for a long time.

In this regard, we should note that, for example, according to the information of the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleg Sinegubov, 574 thousand hectares of agricultural land are potentially contaminated in the region. This is 30% of the agricultural land in the region. So far, only 29,000 hectares of land have been demined by the joint efforts of the administration, the State Emergency Service, specialized services and international specialists. After all, demining is an extremely difficult process, since each cleared hectare is a risk to the life and health of specialists. In this regard, the official noted that the issue of mechanized demining and increasing the efficiency of this work is being discussed at the state level and with international partners. Recently, a demining machine of a local manufacturer was presented on the basis of the Mine Action Coordination Center under the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration. This technique will help speed up the clearing of de-occupied territories from enemy mines and shells.

By the way, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Program, with the financial support of the governments of Austria and Canada, are starting a new cycle of support programs for farmers in the Kharkiv region. As reported by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the program is focused on clearing agricultural land of explosive remnants of war and restoring it for sustainable agricultural activity. Farmers cultivating from 3 to 300 hectares are invited to participate in the program. Acceptance of applications in the State Agrarian Register is open until December 29, 2024.

Under the program, farmers can receive assistance in mine action, including land clearance of explosive remnants of war, as well as land rehabilitation through financial support and rehabilitation vouchers. To help assess the condition of affected land and plan support, farmers should report the percentage of land left uncultivated by artillery shelling, the number of farm workers before and after February 2022, the percentage of bomb-damaged surface, the percentage of contaminated areas, and information on the relationship of plots to catchment basin. Farmers must also provide all relevant cadastral numbers of the affected lands.