Minister for Environmental Protection reveals expectations of COP28 in Dubai

This was stated by the Minister for Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets, who spoke in an interview with Ukrinform on the sidelines of the Ukraine Green Recovery Conference in Vilnius.

"This year's conference will focus on finance, on finding resources to achieve ambitious climate goals. For the second time, Ukraine will present its own pavilion, which we see as a Unity Place. I will not reveal the idea and theme of the pavilion yet, but I should note that every square centimeter of this space has its own philosophy and logic," the minister said.

He noted that the delegation will present initiatives at COP28, the main of which will be announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky during his speech.

"My goal as Minister of Environment is to further advocate Clause 8 of the Peace Formula. As part of the United for Justice. United for Nature conference, we presented a draft environmental declaration, which was sent through diplomatic channels to all countries around the world, and now we expect to receive at COP 2028 the appropriate feedback from countries willing to join the declaration," said Ruslan Strelets.

It is about creating a platform on which the countries of the world will unite at the political, technical, and expert levels in order to record all environmental damage caused by Russia, to recognize and verify the methods that we use today or to update these methods, and to collect in a single system all the experiences in environmental recovery.

"So every country that joins the platform will also be able to benefit from those experiences," noted the Minister for Environmental Protection.

He added that the international platform is a continuation of the initiative announced by President Zelensky at last year's COP27 climate conference.

"We are moving consistently, modernizing our path a little bit, and we see this platform as our main goal today. Potentially, it can be introduced as part of Clause 8 of the Peace Formula, and potentially the declaration can be signed as early as next year at one of the international events dedicated to the issue," the minister said, adding that he hoped for Germany's "support and leadership" in this regard.

"Through this platform, we seek to contribute to preventing future wars. We need to show how catastrophic the consequences of wars are in terms of destroyed ecosystems, lost natural resources, and pollution. The environment has no borders. And the aggressor must understand that war is costly not only in terms of the price of weapons systems, but also because they will have to pay for destroying the environment. Thanks to this platform, the aggressor will be able to see the potential bill even before they start a new war," said the Minister for Environmental Protection.

"If the platform reduces the chances of another armed conflict erupting by at least a few percent, I believe our mission will be accomplished," Ruslan Strilets emphasized.

As reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, from November 30 to December 12, 2023, Dubai is hosting the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference — COP28. For the second time in history, Ukraine will present its pavilion at the conference to show the scale of environmental damage caused by the Russian war of aggression and to propose ways to prevent ecocide that are relevant for the entire planet.