Περιβαλλοντικές επιπτώσεις των πολεμικών συγκρούσεων : μελέτες περίπτωσης Ουκρανίας και Μέσης Ανατολής
Environmental impacts of armed conflicts : case studies of Ukraine and Middle East
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Πόλεμος ; Περιβαλλοντικές επιπτώσεις ; Ουκρανία ; ΓάζαAbstract
This master's thesis provides a comparative analysis of the environmental impacts of the two major contemporary armed conflicts of the 2022–2025 period: the conflict in Ukraine, initiated with the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, and the conflict in the Gaza Strip, which escalated after 7 October 2023. The selection of these two cases is based on their common methodological assessment through the Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) framework jointly deployed by the World Bank, the European Union, and the United Nations, enabling for the first time a comparative analysis based on homogeneous data. The research follows a comparative case study methodology based on secondary data analysis of official RDNA reports, assessments by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), peer-reviewed scientific literature, and reports by specialized organizations. The analysis is structured along three analytical axes: (a) comparative assessment of direct environmental damage, demolition waste, soil, water and air pollution, ecosystem destruction, greenhouse gas emissions, (b) the connection of each conflict with the energy crisis at local, regional and global scales, and (c) environmental footprint beyond the conflict zones. Findings reveal significant structural similarities between the two conflicts, systematic targeting of critical infrastructure, collapse of wastewater and solid waste management systems, widespread contamination from explosive residues and heavy metals, massive presence of unexploded ordnance, alongside substantive qualitative differences: the Ukrainian conflict presents a geographically extensive and transboundary environmental dimension, with novel risk categories such as nuclear safety in active war zones, whereas the Gaza conflict is characterized by an exceptional density of environmental destruction
within a confined territory (107 kilograms of debris per square meter of the Strip), without historical precedent in the modern era. The thesis concludes with proposals for sustainable post-conflict reconstruction, organized along technical and institutional pillars. The technical pillar develops proposals for decentralized energy planning through the deployment of renewable sources and storage systems, the recycling of demolition waste as aggregates, the use of supplementary cementitious materials, bioclimatic building design, and integrated environmental restoration of soils, aquifers and ecosystems. The institutional pillar articulates proposals for incorporating military emissions into the UNFCCC framework, strengthening international environmental law in armed conflict settings, recognizing ecocide as an international crime, and developing green recovery financial mechanisms modeled on the Ukraine Facility.