The following articles would not have been possible without the help of all those who contributed and to whom ECOS extends most sincere thanks. Entitled “Transboundary conflict and conservation” and “Conservation on the frontline,” these focus on existing and planned largescale ecological restoration programmes around the Danube Delta and in the Azov-Black Sea corridor of southern Ukraine. Parts of this region, including Kherson, are currently on the frontline of conflict, subject to illegal Russian annexation and a counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces to liberate occupied areas. Yet vitally important nature conservation involving extremely dedicated people continues with the aim of resuming work underway and planned before the invasion as far as possible once peace returns.
Before the latest Russian onslaught, Ukraine’s government had recently announced the intention to enhance the protected status of the Chernobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve:
“The status of a legal land user will enable the reserve to more effectively perform environmental protection tasks, including in the reconstruction conditions after military operations. In addition, the institution will be able to develop its potential as a unique international platform for scientific cooperation.”
Ruslan Strelets, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources
According to the minister, “226,964.7 hectares of the exclusion zone and the zone of unconditional resettlement represent the largest wildlife reserve in Europe” The reserve forms part of the transboundary region of Polesia whose future is also discussed in the article below.