Ukrainian solution for recording losses in the agricultural sector as a result of the war, developed by experts from the USAID AGRO Program and the Ukrainian Agri Council, has been named one of the five finalists in an international innovation competition.
It was presented at the annual SID-US conference held on May 24 in Washington, DC.
SID-US is one of the most important conferences dedicated to international development issues. The theme of the 2023 event was the changes that will shape the next decade. The conference's discussion panels discussed the redistribution of zones of influence on the global world map, negative trends in food security, the problem of refugees and migration, the threats of global warming, and other key issues of international development. The conference brought together more than 1500 participants and 90 speakers - politicians, investors, public figures from around the world.
The most anticipated event of the event was the presentation of the finalists of the annual innovation competition. The competition is aimed at identifying modern solutions that can help the world face global challenges. Five finalists from different countries and continents presented their innovative cases. One of the finalists was a case from Ukraine on a set of solutions for documenting losses in the agricultural sector of Ukraine, developed by experts from the USAID Agricultural and Rural Development Program (AGRO) and the Ukrainian Agri Council (UAC).
"Since the first days of the war, Russia has been deliberately destroying Ukrainian elevators and farms. Today, the losses of the agricultural sector are estimated at over $40 billion and, unfortunately, these amounts are growing with every day of the war. In order to claim justice and compensation in international courts, we need proof of the damage, which means that all destruction must be properly recorded. Properly and immediately, as evidence is lost over time. However, not only farmers do not know how to do this, lawyers do not know how to do this either, because until now there has been no methodology for recording the damage caused by military operations in Ukraine," says Andriy Dykun, head of the Ukrainian Agri Council and SaveUA Charity Foundation.
According to Andriy Dykun, the UAC team, with the support of the USAID AGRO Program, developed instructions, a methodology for recording damage, document templates, a video example of the process of documenting destruction, and an interactive map of the destruction of Ukraine's agricultural sector, which not only stores evidence of the crimes of the Russian army but also visualizes their consequences.
"This interactive tool is useful not only for storing evidence but also for finding donors. In the near future, the International Register of Damage Caused by Russia to Ukraine will be launched in the Netherlands. The collected data and evidence are ready to be transferred to the institution and we are confident that they will serve to restore justice," noted Dykun.
Anna Fedun, Land Legislation Advisor, USAID AGRO Program, noted that the interactive map of agricultural sector destruction already contains data on 534 objects and 1,100 pieces of evidence of crimes committed by Russian troops against agricultural enterprises.
"The means of recording war crimes that were used during the Second World War are not enough now. We had to develop new tools that would meet the new complex realities. The solution we have developed for Ukrainian farmers has attracted the interest of the international community, as there have 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 international community's attention to the war in Ukraine and the devastating losses of Ukrainian farmers who, despite everything, continue to fulfill their mission of ensuring the world's food security," said Ms. Anna.
During the conference, Ukraine's influence on global trends was mentioned in almost every discussion, especially when it came to food security. Over the past three years, the number of people who go hungry or suffer from food insecurity has increased by 150 million. COVID, climate change, and the war in Ukraine have contributed to a significant increase in hunger, jeopardizing the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger by 2030. 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, lacked regular access to food.
"When we win the war in Ukraine, we win peace in the world," said Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States, concluding the conference.
For reference:
Interactive map of destruction - https://www.agrirecovery.com.ua/
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The USAID Agriculture and Rural Development Program (ARD) is a seven-year program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), implemented by Kimonix International. The goal of the program is to accelerate the economic development of rural communities in Ukraine by improving agricultural sector governance, which will contribute to the development of more productive, modern, and profitable micro, small, and medium-sized agricultural enterprises (MSMEs). USAID AGRO Program objectives: to improve productivity and market access in targeted value chains, and to improve support functions and the regulatory framework in the agricultural sector.
