Finland to strengthen environmental cooperation with Ukraine

Finland to strengthen environmental cooperation with Ukraine

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Tavio has decided to allocate funding for cooperation between the Finnish Environment Institute and the environmental authorities of Ukraine.

The project will reinforce monitoring of water quality and terrestrial ecosystems in Ukraine and improve the availability of environmental information. The four-year project has a budget of EUR 2 million.

The project is based on Finland's and Ukraine's long-standing environmental cooperation in monitoring the state of the environment, measuring environmental consequences of the war and supporting early warning systems and the convergence of Ukraine's environmental legislation and administration with that of the EU.

"The poor state of the environment threatens the health of the residents of Ukraine and the country's agricultural productivity and economy. Finland is helping to plan measures to repair damage and to improve the measuring of the state of the environment in Ukraine," says Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Tavio.

Environmental cooperation is based on a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Finnish and Ukrainian environmental ministries in March 2023 and on the Ukrainian Peace Formula's focus on the immediate protection of the environment and the importance of producing information on war-induced environmental damage.

Finland serves as co-chair of Ukraine's Peace Formula working group on Environmental Security. Finland and Ukraine will continue their established cooperation in environmental security in accordance with the security cooperation agreement concluded between Finland and Ukraine in spring 2024.