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Kakhovska dam destruction is part of the climate emergency [1]
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Date: 2023-06
The destruction of Ukraine’s Kakhovska dam, which evidence suggests was the work of Russian forces, highlights a problem with capitalist society: not being able to see the whole picture.
Capitalism fragments information and knowledge into separate categories: climate breakdown, Russia’s war on Ukraine, legacies of colonialism.
These categories compartmentalise different acts of violence, making them separate. Take a look at the “climate” sections of major news outlets and you can see that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not part of these conversations.
But in reality, the global climate emergency and Russian imperialism are deeply entangled – and it’s time to see them as such.
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In the past year, major environmental organisations such as Greenpeace have taken a stance against fossil fuel extraction and petrocapitalism, which have allowed Russia to maintain and expand its empire for years. But that’s not enough today.
The destruction of the Kakhovska dam has caused massive damage, flooding homes and habitats, killing animals, plants and insects en masse. It has contaminated water, washed away landmines and other explosive weapons, and posed a new threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. So far, evidence points strongly in favour of an explosion.
The flooding has also impacted protected areas that are part of the transnational Emerald Network, including several national nature parks: Velykyi Luh (which remains illegally occupied by Russia), Kam’ianska Sich and Nyzhniodniprovskyi.
This will severely damage biodiversity in Ukraine and contribute to the sixth mass extinction of species globally.
Russia is guilty of ecocide
The destruction in the Kherson region joins a growing number of incidents of deliberate or negligent environmental destruction by Russian forces, which are currently under investigation by Ukrainian prosecutors under the charge of ecocide.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court does not list ecocide as an international crime, but it is part of Ukraine’s criminal code – and Ukraine can set an international precedent by holding Russia accountable for environmental harm.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ukraine-russia-kakhovska-dam-destruction-ecocide-environment/
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