Priorities in nature conservation in times of war: the situation with the Great Meadow and the Great Steppe
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/visn2023.09.012Keywords:
dewatered reservoirs, devastated areas, meadow and steppe ecosystems, restoring natural complexesAbstract
The article considers the conservation and biogeographical significance of the ecosystem complex of the Great Meadow and the Prydniprovsky Steppe in the system of natural complexes destroyed or significantly disturbed because of the construction of the Kakhovka Reservoir and the system of aqueducts and irrigation canals coming from it. The destruction of the reservoir as a result of hostilities in June 2023 has become a new, second (after its creation) environmental disaster, after which reclamationists are beginning to plan a third one: a new blockage of the Dnipro watercourse and restoring the reservoir's original functions. The article analyses in detail the values of the areas released from water (floodplain) and irrigation (steppe), and the prospects for ecosystem restoration, the reasons and principles of such restoration, as well as a set of minimum necessary biotechnical measures for canalisation and correction of nature restoration processes and overcoming the consequences of devastation due to the exposure of the reservoir bottom, as well as the cessation of irrigation of large areas of the steppe.
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