EU Commission: Ukraine, a conference on “sustainable” reconstruction. Damage estimated at 52 billion. “The most heavily mined country in the world”

From tomorrow to 1 December, the Commission is hosting a high-level conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, on “green recovery” in Ukraine. Commissioner VirginijusSinkevičius will represent the Commission and, as specified in a release, he “stresses the commitment for a continued cooperation with and assistance to Ukraine in its sustainable reconstruction efforts”. The conference, “comprising a policy and a business segment, aims to take stock of the challenges ahead and discuss with Ukrainian policymakers, mayors and businesses the strategies and concrete solutions underpinning a green reconstruction and recovery”. The event aims “to create a momentum for high sustainability ambition for the benefit of all Ukrainians. In addition to supporting Ukraine's European perspective, a sustainable recovery and reconstruction is essential to guarantee Ukraine's prosperity, resource autonomy, and the quality of life of Ukrainians when the war finally ends”. The Commission supports a range of efforts to monitor and record the environmental damage, going much beyond natural areas. The Commission estimated environmental damage to the environment as: over €52 billion of total damage; 97 water management facilities damaged or destroyed; over €1.4 billion damages in the forestry sector; 20% of protected areas under threat; environmental devastation resulting from the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant, the worst man-made disaster since the Chernobyl accident; Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country in the world.
Valentina Bombelli