Environmental (in)security, peacebuilding and green economic recovery in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine

Abstract

In addition to the loss of many lives and livelihoods, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has also led to direct and indirect harm to the environment in Ukraine and other parts of the world: local ecosystems have been destroyed and polluted, affecting human security and health as well as biodiversity for many years to come. Any attempt to build a sustainable peace after the war will have to consider these environmental insecurities and their origins in historically asymmetric relationships between Ukraine and external actors centred around resource extractivism. In this paper, we pursue a complementary approach between the political ecology and environmental peacebuilding scholarships: while the former offers an interrogation of larger power structures and practices at this environment–conflict nexus, ranging from Russian imperialism to a sought-after European integration, the latter enables a discussion of the conditions under which the necessary environmental recovery and remediation initiatives may contribute to local peacebuilding instead of further conflict. Taking both approaches together, we argue that the key to a politically and environmentally sustainable peace lies in the centring of Ukrainian civil society and local communities.