Volodymyr Domashlinets is a regular at biodiversity COPs. This official from the Ukrainian Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has been participating in these international summits since 2006. “This year, it’s a bit special in terms of context”understates the man of 64 years, Thursday 8 december. He arrives from kyiv, where Russian bombings of electricity infrastructure have made daily life very difficult. In his flight between Poland and Canada, “there were a lot of Ukrainian refugees”who came to seek a better life on the other side of the Atlantic.
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With the war, he very nearly never came to the Canadian summit, where the international community must find an agreement to halt the destruction of biodiversity. “Our voice must be heard”believes Volodymyr Domashlinets.
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He pulls out his phone to consult the draft of a speech to be delivered by his minister, Ruslan Strilets, during his visit to Montreal next week. The text lists the damage caused by the war on the country’s biodiversity : wetlands of international importance, 200 natural areas and 2 millions of hectares of forest bombarded or damaged by the fighting.
“Without biodiversity, humanity will disappear”
The Ukrainian representative is well aware that in the midst of a conflict, biodiversity issues may seem trivial. But he reminds us of the importance of the subject : “The UN Secretary General and the Prime Minister of Canada said at the opening ceremony, biodiversity is life. Without it, humanity will die out.” The natural environments and the species they shelter allow us to breathe clean air, to have drinking water, to feed ourselves and to limit global warming.
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During the first plenary session, Volodymyr Domashlinets had the unpleasant surprise of finding himself seated just behind the Russian delegation. “I have known one of its members for a long time, he worked at the Convention on Biological Diversity. We just greeted each other from afar, we can’t talk to each other”, says the Ukrainian official. Conversely, he receives many expressions of sympathy in the corridors of the COP.
Pass of arms between Russia and the allies of Ukraine
He was in the front row to witness the heated debate between this Russian delegation and the allies of Ukraine. The war “blocks the actions necessary for the protection of nature and its restoration”denounced the European diplomat Hugo Schally. “The widespread environmental destruction and cross-border damage caused by Russian military aggression cannot go unnoticed at this summit”, estimated Rosemary Paterson, who spoke on behalf of the group New Zealand, Japan, Australia and the United States. The Russian representative, Denis Rebrikov, strongly retorted, believing that “these allegations against Russia [étaient] outside the scope of this conference” and that such statements risked “sabotage” the negotiations.
In the meantime, the conflict is above all sabotaging Ukraine’s ability to keep the commitments that will be made in Montreal. Volodymyr Domashlinets gives the example of the flagship objective, to protect 30% of the surface of the globe by 2030. “We support this measure, but we are not sure we can keep ithe explains. We will first have to return to normal life, restore the economy.” Above all, “the war must be over”.
