Open question with regard to the #Kakhovka flood impacts is to what kinds of pollutants were present on industrial locations that were swept away and create additional pollution risks. One example is the Kherson Oil Depot, southwest of the city 1/x
Another area of concerns is the industrial area south, hosting various construction facilities that are storing different types of hazardous substances. Satellite imagery by @planet indicates there are pollutants in the water 2/x
South of the city is the shipyard, which usually stores a range of hazardous substances including different types of oil, LPG, solvents and and cleaning agents. Some ships also were swept away or capsized by the flooding 3/x
Important to understand that there are major ecological change north of the blown-up Kakhovka dam where the emptying reservoir is drastically changing the landscape and impacting ecosystems in #Kherson 4/x
This photo taken by Inna Varenytsia for @Reuters clearly shows a widespread layer of oil on the water around the flooded houses, adding another level of complexity of dealing with the humanitarian impacts of the #Kakhovka dam destruction 5/x reuters.com/world/europe/k…
Satellite imagery from @planet clearly shows the draining of the Kakhovka Reservoir upstream near Zaporizhzhia with the riverbed falling dry. Experts fear legacy pollution to be stirred up by the wind, while agriculture depending on water canals will collapse. 6/x
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Fighting continues in the heavily industrialized #Donbass region of #Ukraine around the town of Novogorodske, or better know as 'New York', hosting a massive phenol chemical plant that is posing a huge environmental risk. A short thread: 1/x
The chemical plant is producing phenol, a flammable, highly corrosive chemical. The site itself hosted large quantities prior to the invasion, while toxic waste is stored in three nearby ponds. We flagged these risks in this 2017 @bellingcat piece 2/x
The location faced shelling and destruction since 2014, already resulting in fires at the toxic waste pond. We visited the location with @3Bergen in 2018 where the operator and nearby civilians shared the concerns over a massive chemical incidents from shelling 3/x
The war is turning #Gaza into rotting garbage dumpsite as the destruction continues. We have launched a new report drawing on satellite imagery and #OSINT to visualize the scale the of solid waste and linked public health crisis. A small thread 1/x 🧵 paxforpeace.nl/news/war-torn-…
Prior to Oct 7, the #Gaza Strip was already facing enormous problems with solid waste management, despite initiatives by the @WorldBank to construct safe landfills. Illegal waste dumps and waste fires contributed to environmental stressors for nearby communities 2/x
The destruction and massive displacement since the start of Israel's military campaign caused a massive garbage crisis: waste management collapsed, vehicles destroyed, official landfills closed and waste pilling up in the streets from October onward. 3/x
The devastation brought upon #Gaza's urban and rural environment by Israel after the brutal Hamas attacks is making large parts uninhabitable, a new @PAXforpeace
report shows. The massive damage is also posing long-term public health risks. A thread: 1/x paxforpeace.nl/news/israels-b…
The wide-scale destruction of urban areas is creating millions of tons of conflict-rubble, often mixed with toxic waste, and damaged hazardous facilities posing extra public and env health risks. We used @unosat
/@JamonVDH/@coreymaps data for damage, and #OSINT for facilities 2/x
Hundreds of types of water facilities have been damaged/ destroyed, worsening public health risks. Throughout #Gaza water wells, desalination plants, pumping systems are affected, while it was already struggling water shortage prior to the escalation 3/x
The level of urban destruction by the use of #explosiveweapons in populated areas such as #Gaza is significant. Beyond the civilians casualties, this also leaves millions of tons of rubble, posing additional environmental health risks. New @Maxar img from Oct 21, Al Karameh 1/x
Here the damage at Beit Hanoun in northern #Gaza showing a complete neighborhood being almost completely demolished from bombardments 2/x
And here at Atatra in northern #Gaza with complete buildings collapsed from airstrikes. Building materials often contain hazardous materials and debris often mixed with industrial or other types of hazardous waste and UXOs 3/x
And toxic ghost from the past appears as DoD approvs #depleteduranium export to Ukraine: despite US overstating the case, the use of DU would only complicate conflict-pollution in #Ukraine and counters the global norm against its use 1/x wsj.com/articles/u-s-s…
What past wars showed was that DU was not decisive. In the Gulf Wars, most tanks were destroyed with Hellfires and Maverick missiles. Tungsten rounds still are able to destroy Russian tanks, and DU was no silver bullet. 2/x wise-uranium.org/pdf/dumyths.pdf
What our @PAXforpeace research in #Iraq found was that the US was uninterested in clean-up and remediation of DU and contaminated materials, putting civilians at risk of exposure, in particular children playing on tanks and scrapmetal workers. 3/x paxforpeace.nl/wp-content/upl…
The emergence of Morocco as a #drone power. With a range of airstrikes against suspected Polisario militants in occupied Western-Sahara, it is suspected that quite a few are carried out by armed #drones. A small thread with some new satellite imagery showing these drones🧵 1/X
Morocco has been operating Israeli Harfang #drones from the Dakhla airbase in occupied Western Sahara, that are visible on Google Earth imagery in 2021 as shown by @obretix It is unclear if these drones have been armed 2/x
The involvement of armed #drones in airstrikes became more clear after social and traditional media reports on increased military activity against the Polisario armed group in Western Sahara by the Moroccan army 3/x thedefensepost.com/2021/04/12/mor…