# Landscapes of War, Landscapes of Victory: Ukraine’s Changing Environment January 15, 2025 - [ News ](/news-categories/news) ![Emily Channell-Justice portrait](/sites/g/files/omnuum4931/files/2025-01/emily-channell-justice-news-landscape-16-12.png) #### An Interview with Dr. Emily Channell-Justice, Director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program The Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program (TCUP) will host its fifth annual conference at Harvard University in February 2025. This year’s conference, titled *Landscapes of War, Landscapes of Victory: Ukraine’s Changing Environment,* will delve into the profound environmental consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the innovative ways Ukrainians are responding to these challenges. The event will bring together leading experts from environmental organizations, governance, technology and academia to explore topics ranging from ecological justice to digital transformations in rebuilding Ukraine’s infrastructure. To provide insight into the vision behind this landmark conference, we spoke with Dr. Emily Channell-Justice, Director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program. **How did you decide on this theme for the 2025 conference?** My current research project includes a large set of interviews with people from eastern Ukraine who were forcibly displaced in Ukraine after Russia’s 2014 invasion. Many of these interviewees talked about the environment (середовище) they lived in before their displacement. It has been both fascinating and devastating to listen to them talk about the various environments that have been destroyed or left behind–from the notorious terrikons (spoil heaps) across the Donbas coal mining landscape to Donetsk’s Ukrainian-speaking environment they were actively engaged in to their evening walks with their kids and friends along the river. One of my favorite [anthropological studies ](https://nyupress.org/9780814716588/polluted-promises/)about environmental justice defines the environment as “where we live, work, and play.” Ukrainians have been denied the right to live, work, and play safely for nearly three years (and for many, it has been over ten). Russia’s full scale war has drawn into focus a conversation about ecocide, the destruction of landscapes and ecosystems that can never be recovered, and other kinds of environmental devastation. For instance, the catastrophic damage done by Russia’s attack on the [Nova Kakhovka dam ](https://kyivindependent.com/in-big-water-kakhovka-dam-destruction-photos/)irreparably changed the unique ecosystem of the immediate area, and potentially has consequences that reach all the way to the Black Sea (Tanya Richardson has explored these impacts in [her work ](https://scholars.wlu.ca/anth_faculty/20/)). The impact of Russian warfare on Ukraine’s agricultural landscapes and global food production has far-reaching ramifications. **Can you give us an overview of the topics the panels will cover?** The panels at this year’s conference will address key ways of thinking about the environment: the keynote lecture by [Jojo Mehta ](https://www.stopecocide.earth/jojo-mehta-profile)(Stop Ecocide International), as well as the second panel of the conference, will focus on ecocide and environmental crimes. They will explore how Ukrainians have been at the forefront of establishing that environmental crimes are an integral part of Russia’s repertoire of genocidal tactics in Ukraine, and examining how these crimes might be prosecuted through legal mechanisms. These discussions will be framed by Panel 1, which addresses the current geopolitical landscape and the war’s impact on global issues such as food security. Panels 3 and 4 incorporate ecology but also talk about the broader idea of the environment as a place to live, work, and play. Panel 3 focuses on reconstruction, including the widespread notion of “Building Back Better” and the potential to incorporate sustainability standards in Ukraine’s current and future development. Panel 4 highlights the emerging landscapes of data and technology and their crucial roles in these reconstruction processes. Panelists come from a variety of academic and policy backgrounds, with many of them also working in both areas (for instance, Dr. Kristina Hook has [briefed ](https://www.csce.gov/press-releases/briefing-russias-ecocide-in-ukraine-environmental-destruction-and-the-need-for-accountability/)the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe on ecocide and accountability). They are [publishing ](https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=ecocide-in-ukraine-the-environmental-cost-of-russias-war--9781509562497)groundbreaking work on ecocide and [teaching ](https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/about/people/eve-blau)collaborative courses on reconstruction. Conference speakers will highlight the importance of data-driven research and of the intersections of this research with creative and artistic [re-envisionings ](https://www.solomiyamag.com/issue/4)of Ukraine’s landscapes. **The conference title highlights both landscapes of war and of victory. With ongoing global debates—including claims by figures like Donald Trump about ending the war—there’s a growing focus on what the end of the war and the idea of victory might look like. How does the conference define ‘victory’ in this context?** The word “victory” is a word I chose intentionally–not out of naivete, but out of a hope that we can have a genuine conversation about what a victory looks like for Ukraine at this point in the war. Taking the major question of ecocide, do we consider it a victory if Ukrainians help establish a legal definition or set a precedent for such a crime to be prosecuted in the future? Does Russia need to be held accountable in some way for these types of crimes in order for victory to be achieved? With so many populist politicians who have little concern for ecosystems in their policies, how can justice be won in view of crimes such as these? There are no easy answers here, just as there is no easy, singular path to victory–or even to the end of the war–for Ukraine. Yet, we know that hope is not lost in Ukraine. Ukrainians continue to show us every single day that they will survive this. I wanted to inject just a little bit of optimism into this discussion, to think about what success might look like in the future, in spite of all the losses Ukraine has already been forced to accept. To me, it does a disservice to everything Ukraine has achieved in these past three years to use any other word. **What do you hope attendees will take away from this year’s conference?** I hope attendees leave with a deeper understanding of Ukraine’s pivotal role in addressing global challenges. This conference will offer fresh perspectives on the critical topic of environmental issues in Ukraine and beyond, directly from experts leading the discussion. I also hope attendees will gain a stronger understanding of the intersection of academic research with policy and advocacy for Ukraine, and will be able to incorporate these themes into their own understanding of contemporary Ukraine. For environmental specialists, this is an opportunity to uncover Ukraine’s relevance to their fields and expand their expertise. Ukraine is not just a key player in the global economy—it is reshaping conversations about war crimes and the environment. For anyone who cares about climate change and human impact on our planet, this conference will shed new light on how we approach these major policy and academic issues. ##### **Learn more & register** Check out the [conference event page ](https://www.huri.harvard.edu/tcup-conference)for more information on the line-up, and register to join the conference in person at Harvard or online. ##### **About the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program** The Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program (TCUP) is a bridge between the scholarly and policy communities with the goal of promoting a deeper understanding of Ukraine in the world. Its role is to recognize, describe, and explain the complexity of contemporary Ukraine through contributions from social scientists and policy researchers. Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)