Last Friday, the National Ecological Center of Ukraine took part in the GROMADA Conference 2025: Environmental Citizen Science in Conflict Zones for Accountability and Empowerment, held at the GeoCenter of the University of Copenhagen and broadcast online.
The event brought together representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Registry of Damage for Ukraine (RD4U), academics and students from across Europe, as well as NGOs working in the field of citizen science, environmental protection, and education in conflict zones.
During the conference, the NECU team presented a poster dedicated to efforts to protect Ukrainian forests. The presentation demonstrated how citizen science and modern technologies — including satellite imagery, acoustic monitoring, and the SMART mobile system — help combat illegal logging. These tools empower local communities to participate in forest conservation, increase transparency, and strengthen accountability in environmental management.
The conference served as a platform for dialogue between scientists, civil society, and international institutions on how citizen participation can contribute to post-war environmental recovery and environmental justice in Ukraine.
The GROMADA project, supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, aims to strengthen cooperation among European universities and institutions to develop legal and societal capacities for environmental recovery in Ukraine. The initiative focuses on the legal aspects of environmental monitoring, engaging war-affected communities in citizen science and active participation in decision-making processes.
More information about the project and its activities is available at: https://gromada-erasmus.eu/
Organisers:
University of Copenhagen, Lund University, University of Hamburg, CEOBS, Web2Learn, Systasis, and Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University.
#GROMADAConference2025 #CitizenScience #CivicMonitoring #IntLaw #War #Ukraine #Russia #ErasmusPlus #EnvironmentalJustice #Conference #More4Nature
© European Union, 2023
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101133983. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.