• Українською
  • Document to launch Support to Ukraine in Environmental Damage Assessment and Development of Water Quality and Biodiversity Monitoring project inked: Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources

    The sum worth EUR 2 million has been earmarked for a joint project of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) on environmental damage assessment and monitoring of water quality and biodiversity. The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Svitlana Grynchuk announced this on her Facebook page. Svitlana Grynchuk and Leif Schulman, Director General of the Finnish Environment Institute, signed documents to launch the project "Support to Ukraine in Environmental Damage Assessment and Development of Water Quality and Biodiversity Monitoring" to run from 2025 to 2028 that will be funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    "Finland is an important partner of Ukraine in implementing environmental projects and promoting Point 8 of the Peace Formula on environmental safety. We work together on environmental issues during the war and receive assistance not only in theory but also in practice. The launch of such a project is an extremely important step for cooperation and exchange of experience, as Finland's water monitoring system is among the best in Europe," said Svitlana Grynchuk.

    The project funding will be used to carry out tasks in the following areas:

    • conducting screening studies of pilot river basins affected by the hostilities;
    • purchase of a mobile laboratory for the Northern Region Water Monitoring Laboratory;
    • exchange of experience with Finnish colleagues and training of water monitoring laboratory specialists to ensure that research is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive;
    • audit of the data management and reporting system in water monitoring laboratories and synchronisation of our system with European practices;
    • assisting Ukraine in the development of water and biodiversity monitoring roadmaps for strategic planning and outlining steps to implement EU directives;
    • strengthening the technical capacity of water monitoring laboratories;
    • increasing the use of satellite data as a powerful tool for environmental monitoring.

    "Last year, the Ukrainian water sector was significantly affected by russian armed aggression: pollution of the Seim and Desna rivers, localisation and elimination of the consequences of russia's terrorist actions at the Dnipro hydroelectric power station, fuel oil leakage as a result of the accident of russian tankers in the Black Sea, etc. In total, over 744 water infrastructure facilities valued at more than UAH 500 million have been either damaged or destroyed in the nearly three years of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The SEI has been accrued almost UAH 85 billion to eliminate the consequences of the pollution of water bodies and marine waters as a result of hostilities. All this requires high-quality monitoring, assessment and restoration. It is extremely valuable to have such partners as the Finnish partners in times of war," the Minister said.

    In addition, it is worth mentioning that we also have Finland's support in developing up-to-date air monitoring. We expect air monitoring stations to be delivered to Ukraine soon with the support of the Finnish Meteorological Institute.