The Ukrainian solution for fixing losses in the agricultural sector as a result of the war, developed by experts of the USAID AGRO Program and the Ukrainian Agrі Council, entered the final of the international innovation competition. It was presented at the annual conference "SID-US", held on May 24 in Washington.
SID-US is one of the most significant conferences devoted to international development issues. The theme of the 2023 event was the changes that will shape the next decade. The discussion panels of the conference discussed the redistribution of zones of influence on the global world map, negative trends in the field of food security, the problem of refugees and migration, threats of global warming and other key issues of international development. The conference gathered more than 1500 participants and 90 speakers - politicians, investors, public figures from different countries of the world.
The most anticipated event of the event was the presentation of the finalists of the annual innovation competition. Its task is to identify modern solutions capable of helping the world to face global world challenges. Five finalists from different countries and continents presented their innovative cases. One of the finalists of the competition was a case from Ukraine regarding a set of solutions for documenting losses in the agricultural sector of Ukraine, developed by experts of the USAID Program for Agrarian and Rural Development (AGRO) and the Ukrainian Agrі Council (UAС).
"From the first days of the war, russia purposefully destroyed Ukrainian elevators and farms. Today, the losses of the agricultural sector are estimated at more than $40 billion, and, unfortunately, these amounts are increasing with each passing day of the war. In order to claim justice and compensation in international courts, proof of damages is required, and therefore all destruction must be properly recorded. Properly and immediately, because evidence is lost over time. However, not only farmers do not know how to do it - lawyers too, because until now there was no methodology for recording damages caused by military actions in Ukraine, says Dmytro Kokhan, Deputy Chairman of the UAC. - So, with the support of the USAID AGRO Program, we developed instructions, a damage recording methodology, document templates, a video example of the destruction documentation process, and an interactive map of the destruction of the agricultural sector of Ukraine, which not only preserves evidence of the crimes of the russian army, but also visualizes their consequences. This interactive tool came in handy not only for storing evidence, but also for finding donors. In the near future, the International Register of Damages Caused by russia to Ukraine will be operational in the Netherlands. The collected data and evidence are already ready to be transferred to the institution and we are sure will serve to restore justice."
Anna Fedun, adviser on land legislation of the USAID AGRO Program, noted that the interactive map of the destruction of the agricultural sector already contains data on 534 objects and 1,100 pieces of evidence about the crimes of the russian army against agricultural enterprises: "Those means for recording war crimes that were used during the Second World War war is not enough now. We had to develop a new toolkit that would correspond to the new complex realities. The solution we developed for Ukrainian farmers attracted the interest of the international community, because there have already been 40 military conflicts in the world in the 21st century alone. And for us, participation in the SID-US conference was another opportunity to draw the attention of the international community to the war in Ukraine and the devastating losses of Ukrainian farmers who, despite everything, continue to fulfill their mission in ensuring world food security."
"For dairy farms, the destruction map has become an especially important interactive tool, because among the livestock industries, cattle breeding has suffered the most due to the consequences of the war: according to preliminary estimates of the AMP (Association of Milk Producers), more than 100 dairy farms suffered destruction and complete destruction due to russian aggression, and losses of the industrial cattle herd may exceed 50,000 cows. Currently, to restore the industry, according to the latest estimates of the Center for Food and Land Use Research at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE Agrocenter), at least $29.7 billion is needed," says AMP General Director Hanna Lavreniuk.
During the conference, the influence of Ukraine on global trends in the world was mentioned in almost every discussion, and above all - when it came to food security. Over the past three years, the number of people who are hungry or suffering from food insecurity has increased by 150 million. COVID, climate change and the war in Ukraine have contributed to a significant increase in hunger levels, putting the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030 at risk. According to the UN, an estimated 768 million people were undernourished in 2021, and 2.4 billion people, or more than 30% of the world's population, did not have regular access to food.
"When we win the war in Ukraine, we will win peace in the whole world," noted Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, concluding the conference.
For reference:
The loss fixing methodology is available at the link here
Interactive map of destruction - https://www.agrirecovery.com.ua/
Source: UAC