4 April 2024
Research on the environmental effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine is ramping-up at GIUB
Dr. Alexander Vorbrugg (Critical Sustainability Studies Unit) and Prof. Dr. Adrien Mestrot (Soil Science Unit) contributed to the report titled “Is food safety in Switzerland impacted by the war in Ukraine?” by the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO). The report is available on this webpage or directly here. Alexander introduced Adrien to the topic by organising a meeting with Dr. Kateryna Polyanska of the Ukrainian NGO Environment-People-Law. Since then, Adrien is supervising bachelor and master theses at GIUB on the topic of toxic trace elements (heavy metals) in soils from protected areas and in agricultural soils and crops in war-impacted areas of Ukraine. The results from these are featured in the report. Together with international colleagues, Alexander received funding from the German Foundation for Peace Research to consolidate a research network on the effects of the war on food systems and the environment (more info here) to continue the work on this important topic.
If you would like to know more about the environmental effects of the War in Ukraine, please join us at the GIUB’s “Environmental Pollution Colloquium” on April 23rd at 16:15 in room 002, where Prof Olena Melnyk from ETH will give a lecture titled “Environmental Effects of the War in Ukraine: Spotlight on Soil Damage Assessment and Mapping”.
