11119 Impact of war & climate on water security in Ukraine

This session will provide an overview of the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on water security for the irrigation sector. More specifically, it will dive deep into showcasing the damages, losses, and needs of the irrigation sector emerging from the conflict. It will also demonstrate innovations in remote sensing technologies that illustrates the impact of the war on irrigation performance in Ukraine including changes in irrigated area (before and after the war), decreases (if any) in irrigated area before and after the war, the impact of the war on cropped area, and changes in the NDVI (before and after the war).

In addition, to illustrating the results of the conflict on irrigated areas, the session will also showcase new analysis on growing water scarcity in agriculturally important parts of Ukraine, highlighting the climate-induced risks to food production (particularly the hydrological variability and its impact on Ukraine’s ability to produce food from rain-fed sources) in the present and the near future.

The combination of these results will be summarized into implications for policy stemming from the two crises of conflict and climate.