It has been one year since Vladimir Putin launched the brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine and brought war once again to Europe. The ongoing war is both a humanitarian catastrophe and an environmental disaster.
RePlanet’s mission is to liberate nature and elevate humanity. This is because human welfare and environmental protection are interlinked – we cannot have one without the other.
For this reason, we launched our Switch Off Putin campaign shortly after the invasion began. The campaign has expanded to include three key components.
One is direct support, providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine in an effort to reduce the impacts of Putin’s invasion on both human welfare and the environment.
We can see a clear link between human welfare and environmental protection, as people in Ukraine once again turn to burning trees to keep warm as electricity infrastructure is destroyed.
The indirect environmental impact of burning wood to keep warm pales in comparison to the direct environmental impacts of the conflict.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine has recorded more than 2,303 cases of environmental damage, and reports that 600 species of animals and 880 species of plants are under threat of extinction.
(Image: Pied Avocet - Kinburn Peninsular, Ukraine)
The second component is producing reports to show how Europe can stand up to Putin’s food and energy blackmail, and also rapidly stop funding Putin’s war machine by ending fossil fuel imports from Russia. This is especially important as the impact of the war is being felt beyond the borders of Ukraine, with the global food and energy system heavily impacted, resulting in worse human welfare and environmental outcomes.
Despite being one year into the war, the EU continues to send roughly €500 million to Russia each week for fossil fuels. This could increase further as countries like Belgium and Germany push ahead with plans to phase out their perfectly functioning nuclear power plants.
The EU needs to address these Russian fossil fuel imports immediately. Otherwise, we could see Putin continue to have the capacity to drag this conflict on for years.
The third component is ongoing work with Ukrainian activists, politicians and professionals in developing a plan for how to rebuild Ukraine and secure a strong, sustainable future post-conflict.
Help us continue this important work. All donations via our website during the month of March will go to the Switch Off Putin campaign.
Ultimately, to protect people and the environment, Putin’s invasion needs to end.
We call on Vladimir Putin to end the conflict by immediately ordering the withdrawal of Russian military personnel from the territory of Ukraine.