The war in Ukraine, which Russia started in 2014, has only by the end of 2022 led to the destruction of approximately 17,944 hectares of previously forested land.
These are the results of a study conducted by experts of the public organization "LiiS". They carried out an analysis of the destruction of forests in Ukraine, focusing on the territories affected by Russian aggression.
For the study, images of the Global Forest Change raster maps were used, which made it possible to study the loss of forest cover from 2014 to 2023.
"According to the study, the war initiated by Russia in 2014 only by the end of 2022 led to the destruction of approximately 17,944 hectares of previously forested lands of the country. Among them, the loss of 1,442 hectares of forest cover was recorded in the territories that remain in the temporarily occupied lands of Crimea and Donbas since 2014 (grey background in Figure 1)," the study said.
There is also a significant loss of forest cover (Fig. 1) on an area of 5,141 hectares located in the territories that remain occupied after 24 February 2022 (according to the combat contact line as of 1 May 2023, see transparent background in within the limits of the red line in Fig. 1).
Figure 1: temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as of May 1, 2023 (gray background – from 2014, transparent – from February 24, 2022). Forest cover losses as of the end of 2022 are marked in red.
The loss of forest cover in the amount of 11,361 hectares was also recorded in the territories liberated from occupation in 2022 (Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Liberated occupied territories as of May 1, 2023. Forest cover losses as of the end of 2022 are marked in red.
"The analysis of these destroyed territories provides important conclusions about the devastating impact of the war on the valuable forest resources of Ukraine. The data collected using remote methods make it possible to determine the urgency of environmental protection measures in the affected regions and to calculate the estimated damages caused by the aggressor," the experts concluded.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, the Russian occupiers deliberately set fire to the forests, in particular to expose the positions of the Ukrainian military.
