The Environmental Security and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy of Ukraine until 2030 developed with the support of the EU4Climate will contribute to the delivery of Ukraine’s international obligations under the Paris Agreement. Endorsed by the Ukrainian government, the new strategy is to make Ukraine a more environmentally safe and climate-resilient country, ready to meet the already unavoidable impacts of the global climate crisis in Ukraine.
According to the Strategy, the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in Ukraine are biodiversity, water resources, energy, public health, forestry, coastal areas, fisheries, agriculture, soils, etc. And these are the areas the main activities of the Government within the framework of the document implementation will be aimed at.
The strategy sets the framework for adaptation action in Ukraine, focusing on essential steps to assess climate impacts on society, economy and nature, integrating adaptation in sectoral and local policies, and ensuring the better use of climate data. It defines ten vulnerable sectors and natural components –biodiversity; water resources; energy; public health; fisheries; agriculture and soils; forestry; cities and territorial communities; transport and infrastructure; coastal areas, and tourism. By 2024, these sectors are to undergo an analysis of their climate vulnerability and the risks they face. Based on this research, vital adaptation measures will be developed and prioritized in sectoral and regional adaptation plans.
As a result of the Strategy’s implementation, it is expected:
- reduction of industrial pollution;
- creation of an effective chemical safety system;
- ensuring the rational use of natural resources; achieving “good” ecological state of waters;
- ensuring sustainable forest management and increasing the adaptive capacity of forest ecosystems;
- creation of legal and economic bases for the introduction of a hierarchy of waste management;
- increasing the efficiency of the state system of environmental impact assessment and state supervision (control) in the field of environmental protection;
- conservation of biodiversity and ensuring the development of the nature reserve fund of Ukraine;
- strengthening the adaptability and resilience of social, economic and environmental systems to climate change;
- stabilization of ecological balance in the temporarily occupied territories, etc.
To bring the Strategy to the life, changes to legislation are also required, including incorporating climate adaptation in local economic and social development strategies, an environmental assessment process, and an environmental impact assessment process.