Global environmental challenges: lessons from Ukraine

An expert panel details how to foster public discussion and continued cooperation between organisations and individuals for an ongoing environmentally focused conversation about the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine, situated in the context of wider environmental challenges faced globally. 28 March 2024. RSA House.
Ukraine is not only having to confront the destruction of human life and infrastructure caused by Russia’s invasion but also having to deal with damage to the environment. The question of the environment is closely linked to that of justice. Ukraine is a pioneer in bringing the acts of ecocide into the discussion of justice in the context of war. The lessons of Ukraine are thus of vital importance to those parts of the world that suffer from environmental damage in the context of armed conflicts, climate breakdown, and other crises.
This event is held in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute London, the Delegation of Flanders (Embassy of Belgium) in the UK and Ireland, Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, the Cyprus High Commission, the RSA, and EUNIC London (European Union National Institutes for Culture). The event is made possible thanks to the financial support of the Culture of Solidarity Fund powered by the European Cultural Foundation.
Speakers
Marjukka Porvari works as an environmental expert at the European Commission’s Ukraine Service under the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations. Marjukka Porvari has over 20 years of experience of working for the third sector, central government and research institutions, focusing especially on environmental issues in Eastern Europe. She has an educational background in environmental science and economics, and is specialised in environmental policy, environmental impact assessment and water management.
Jojo Mehta is the co-founder and CEO of Stop Ecocide, coordinating between legal developments, diplomatic traction, and public narrative, in the effort to establish ecocide as a crime at the International Criminal Court. Jojo Mehta has contributed to UN conferences, diplomatic events, law and business summits, as well as podcasts, interviews, and articles for publications and broadcasters including TIME Magazine, The New York Times, The Guardian and the BBC. She has a background in communications, entrepreneurship, and on-the-ground environmental campaigning.
Anna Ackermann is a climate and energy policy professional, a founding member of Centre for Environmental Initiatives ‘Ecoaction’, where she worked as head of the climate department and currently serves as a board member. She is also a policy analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development working on a green reconstruction of Ukraine. With a background in energy, environmental policy, and just transition, she supports European organisations designing approaches to Ukraine’s sustainable post-war recovery and development. She has 10 years of experience in analytical research and advocacy. Between 2016 and 2018 Anna managed an expert energy policy group of Ukraine’s largest civil society platform, Reanimation Package of Reforms.
Bart Gruyaert is Project Director at Neo-Eco Ukraine, currently focused on developing international business ties, as well as restoring Ukraine’s ecology through circular economy methodologies designed and developed by Neo-Eco Ukraine. With a background in business administration and naval engineering, Bart Gruyaert has over 10 years of experience in turning around machine building and metals companies, and is an experienced manager of industrial technologies, including IOT, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Having worked at ArcelorMittal and Ahlers, and managed two factories in France, he built an industrial group of 1500 team members from the ground up as Chief Executive Officer at Altifort. Bart Gruyaert has been CEO of HP Robotics since January 2006.
Chair
Sasha Dovzhyk is the editor of London Ukrainian Review. She holds a PhD in English and Comparative Literature from Birkbeck, has taught at Birkbeck and UCL SSEES, and edited three books. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Guardian, New Lines, Index of Censorship, CNN and others. Having lived in London for nine years, she has recently moved back to Ukraine to work on institutional development.
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