Ukrainian civic network. Different industrial cities - similar issues
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About us

Clean Air for Ukraine is a joint project of Arnika and an informal network of local non-governmental organizations from the industrial regions of Kryvbas and Donbas in Ukraine. Our objective is to improve access to information and strengthen public participation in decision-making. A public monitoring network of air pollution, analysis of soil, river sediments, and foodstuffs in five regions, and a capacity building programme for the civil society are some of our main achievements. We bring the transformation experience of the Czech Republic, involve scientists and experts in public campaigns, publish analyses, and suggest solutions.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 92% of the world’s population breathes air polluted beyond the acceptable limits. Moreover, Ukraine, as no exception, had (on the basis of the ranking from September 2017) the most deaths (out of 120 countries) attributed to atmospheric air pollution per 100,000 people. Another study, from the European Society of Cardiology, published in 2019 showed that the Ukrainian excess death rate per 100,000 members of the population is over 200 each year, which means that approximately 83,960 inhabitants per year die from air pollution. High levels of atmospheric air pollution have also been observed not only in typically industrial regions, but also in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, which often ends up ranked as the world’s most polluted city in the Air Quality Ranking. For decades, the government has ignored the overall state of the environment. As a result, more than four million people are breathing extremely polluted air. The main source of this pollution is metallurgical and coal power plants which still use outdated technologies. Emission permits for the factories are issued on the basis of outdated Soviet-era legislation, and accurate information on the real levels of air pollution is not accessible to the public. The state environmental inspection is ineffective, as is the enforceability of the law in general.

The Clean Air Project seeks to unite citizens and civic initiatives in industrial cities affected by air pollution and helps to strengthen the public campaigns to achieve improvements.

In Ukraine, there is no functional governmental air monitoring. Several cities run their own systems, but their design is often inadequate and the data is usually inaccessible to the public. That is why we invented Oxygen – EcoCity stations – a new generation of public air monitoring stations – and began to measure air pollution thanks to a network of activists and volunteers. If air pollution concerns you as well, you can join us!

Arnika (Prague), established in 2001, is uniting people seeking a better environment. We believe that natural wealth is not only a gift, but also an obligation to save it for the future. Since its foundation, Arnika has become one of the most important environmental organizations in the Czech Republic. We base our activities on three pillars: engaging the public, professional arguments, and communication. Since the beginning, we have been leading public campaigns both in the Czech Republic and internationally. The organization focuses on nature conservation, toxics and waste, access to information, and public participation in decision-making.

Eco City (Ivano-Frankivsk) – a team of technical experts on civic air quality monitoring in Ukraine. We manufacture monitoring stations available to the public and coordinate a web-resource for all Ukrainian to inform the public about the level of air pollution and its quality in individual towns. We actively involve students and young people in our activities based on social entrepreneurship. Together with Arnika, we have developed Oxygen, Air Fresh Max, and Sapphire – a new generation of air monitoring stations that measure the concentrations of six pollutants.

 

Oleksiy Trelevskiy

EcoCity coordinator

Dmitro Obukhiv

EcoCity Environment OS developer

Marcela Černochová

project coordinator

Martin Skalský

expert on public participation

Tetiana Zhavzharova

Ecosense
PR and media

Olexiy Angurets

Green World – Friends of the Earth
Expert on ecology and sustainable development

Yana Hederim

Civic Rating
Community manager

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Join the air pollution fighters in your town!

DNIPRO

NGO “Dovkola” is a network of support and development of public scientific initiatives for the sustainable development of Ukraine and overcoming the environmental and social consequences of the war in Ukraine.
The network was formed at the end of 2016 by activists and ecologists of the Dnipropetrovsk branch of the National Ecological Center of Ukraine after the termination of this organization. Since 2016, the network has been working as an informal association of ecologists, scientists and eco-activists. In 2022, after the forced relocation of most of the participants, the network underwent organizational changes and was officially registered as a non-profit public organization “Dovkola”.
Since 2016, the network has been conducting active work and various public researches and expeditions to monitor the quality of the environment in different regions of Ukraine. In the last three years, the Dovkola Network has focused on three areas of activity: (1) environmental education of youth, (2) public environmental monitoring, and (3) independent mass media.

In 2022, after the start of active hostilities and relocation, members of the Dovkola network, together with partners, launched special projects to combat environmental disinformation – “Ekoshabash” and “Air of War”.

 

NGO “Green World – Friends of the Earth” is a non-governmental, non-profit public organization that was registered in 1997 in the city of Dnipro and was the first in the region to start working in the field of sustainable development.

The main goal of the organization’s activities is to involve the public in active activities to solve environmental problems and protect the natural environment.

The activities of the organization include the implementation of public control over compliance with environmental legislation and the rational use of natural resources, cooperation with state institutions on environmental policy issues, the spread of renewable energy sources and environmentally friendly technologies, the development of environmental monitoring, the implementation of national and international environmental legislation.

ECODIIТ. We are a professional ecological community that unites environmental engineers, scientists and students-ecologists in the city of Dnipro. Our community was founded in 2012 on the basis of a certified ecological laboratory of the Dnieper National University of Railway Transport and is engaged in projects of ecological and climatic education, implements environmental monitoring. Since 2019, community members have been helping community activists to implement public air monitoring systems in Ukraine.

KHARKIV

Public Rating NGO. Anti-corruption and democratic initiatives for effective cooperation between the community, government and business on the basis of openness and partnership.

NGO “Eco Hub Kharkiv”. A public initiative engaged in environmental protection and environmental monitoring in the city of Kharkiv. Conducts an active campaign to protect the environmental rights of residents who are in the zone of influence of coke-chemical production in the city.

Solonitsevka Live. A group of activists created to protect the rights of residents of the village of Solonitsevka (near the city of Kharkiv). Conducts active information and educational campaigns, engages in social activities on the territory of the Solonytsevka community.

 

ZAPORIZHIA

“Ekosense” NGO. Works on sustainable development and adaptation of Zaporizhia to climate change, reduction of carbon emissions and pollutants by energy and industrial enterprises. Develops a network of public monitoring of air quality and radiation in the region.

 

Clean Air for Ukraine

This project is led by a non-governmental organization Arnika (Czech Republic) in cooperation with local civic initiatives in industrial towns of Ukraine with financial support from the Transition Promotion Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the National Endowment for Democracy (USA).

You can find more information about our activities and possibilities of involvement or share your thoughts with us by sending a message to info@cleanair.org.ua

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