Post-War Environmental Restoration: Cooperation Between Ukraine and Czech Republic

On July 27, the Minister of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Ruslan Strelets, met with the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Ukraine, Radek Matula. They discussed the “green” post-war recovery of Ukraine, the Czech Republic’s support for Ukrainian nature parks, climate policy, the reform of the waste management system and the fight against industrial pollution.

“During the 5 months of the war, the Russians damaged with trenches and burned an area of ​​forests equal to half of the Czech Republic. About 1 million hectares of our protected areas are under threat of destruction. After the war, all this must be demined and restored.  And here, the support of the Czech Republic, which has valuable experience in demining territories, is very important for us,” Ruslan Strelets said.

In turn, Radeka Matula noted that the Czech Republic will consider the possibility of participating in the modernization of one of the Ukrainian natural parks.

Ruslan Strelets also told Matula about the work done by the Ministry of Environment in the field of waste management reform. He also emphasized that Ukraine hopes to establish practical cooperation with the Czech Republic in this direction.

Radekta Matula also invited the minister to visit the Czech Republic in September and participate in sectoral conferences. It will present important cases of Ukraine in climate policy, sustainable subsoil use and prevention of industrial pollution.

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With Russia’s full-scale invasion approaching the 1,000-day mark, 3.7 million people have already been displaced inside Ukraine and around 6.7 million have fled as refugees, according to UN figures.

“Ukraine appreciates the attention of the Czech Republic to all our European integration initiatives and thanks that the post-war reconstruction of the country is one of the 5 main priorities of the Czech presidency. We count on the further support of the Czech Republic,” noted Ruslan Strelets.

Also, on July 4, at the Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine in Lugano, the Czech Republic announced that it plans to participate in demining operations on Ukrainian agricultural lands and areas with critical civil infrastructure.

Also, in the long term, the Czech Republic wants to participate in the restoration of infrastructure destroyed by the war, especially that related to water supply.

“The Czech Republic has decided to prepare a special plan for Ukraine, which interacts with the EU plan, and will be created in dialogue with the Ukrainian side and will be based on a long-term Ukrainian-Czech partnership,” said Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Peter Fiala.