The damage caused to nature during the war waged by Russia against Ukraine is greater than to infrastructure. This was stated by the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strelets in an interview with the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, UNN reports.
"In some cases, the damage to our nature is many times greater than the damage to our infrastructure," Strelets said.
According to him, the problem is that Ukraine is still unable to assess the total damage caused to nature.
"Every day we get new information, every new missile means new damage to nature. According to our methodology, if we were to include ecosystem services (direct and indirect benefits that people receive from nature and which ensure their well-being and quality of life - LRT.lt), the cost of damage would increase tenfold. So, I think that then the damage to nature would be much greater than to infrastructure," said Strelets.
He noted that, of course, we are talking about numbers here.
"However, there are things that cannot be measured. For example, how much does a destroyed forest cost? It's not just the price of wood per cubic meter on the market, it's nature, and it's impossible to name its price in dollars or euros," Strelets said.
Addendum
To date, the Russian Federation has committed more than 4,700 environmental crimes on the territory of Ukraine worth more than $60 billion.