War, Environment, and Society: a Discussion of the Relevance of Environmental Problems during the War at Media Center Ukraine

Are Ukrainians interested in the environment during the war? When do the Ukrainian public and media pay the most attention to the environmental problems? Why should russians’ crimes against the environment in Ukraine worry the whole world?

The “War, Environment, and Society” discussion initiated by the International Renaissance Foundation took place in Media Center Ukraine on June 24. Also, the Environment and War in Ukraine. Media Monitoring of the Topic in Media and Ukrainians’ Search Requests study was presented in the Media Center Ukraine for the first time. You will find the most remarkable quotes on the environment below.

Inna Pidluska, Deputy Executive Director at the International Renaissance Foundation, on ecology as a component of the European integration:

“The environment is important because Ukraine is Europe. We won the EU candidacy. It means that the issue of the healthy environment, the treatment of the environment as something valuable, plays a crucial role for our strategic advancement toward Europe.”

Natalia Andrusevych, Chair of the Board at Society and Environment Resource and Analysis Center, on the linkage between environmental and security threats:

“These studies are genuinely important because, on the one hand, they show what we already have and, on the other hand, allow us to concentrate on the future… Of course, it is very good that the environmental subjects are present in the mass media and that these issues are discussed by journalists, specialized organizations, and experts. However, we can see a trend indicating that these environmental issues are directly related to the security of the people. Talking about all these environmental issues, they link them directly to certain threats to themselves. It is especially evident in the case of radiation safety and chemical threats. The interest surged in connection with issues of Chornobyl and Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plants. At that time, it was the major subject of discussions, our thoughts, and mentions in mass media.”

Natalia Zaitseva-Chipak, Sociologist, CEO at Socioinform, about the relevance of issues of the environment in Ukraine for the whole world:

“The subject of the environment enables us to engage the world in our life. Tell a story that it is not a problem that affects us only; that you will face problems if something bad happens at the Chornobyl or Zaporizhia NPP; that you will face problems of some chemicals leak at a chemical plant. These topics allow us to show that the world is huge and globalized. It is one more argument for engaging the whole world in helping us establish the order.”

Oles Lisnychuk, Leading Analyst at Umberto Analytical Group, about the relevance of environmental issues during the war for the Ukrainian media:

“We were somewhat surprised by trends of mentioning environmental issues in the Ukrainian media because we had expected a substantial coverage reduction. However, we saw that the mentions had a growing trend for most of the categories we studied, except for several subjects associated with the compelling news from the first days of the war. It is related, first of all, to the radiation contamination and hazards of the radiation damage.”

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news