Ukrainian black soils in war: assessing the impact of hostilities on violations of the guidelines for sustainable soil management

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to highlight the results of the assessment of the degree and scale of violation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) guidelines for sustainable soil management due to hostilities, as well as the damage and losses caused to black soils (chernozems) at the level of the territorial community due to armed aggression. Methodology / approach. The study was carried out on the example of the Chkalovska territorial community (hromada) of the Chuhuiv district of the Kharkiv region (Ukraine) using the author’s methodology for expert assessment of violations of the guidelines for sustainable soil management in war conditions. The following methods were used in the study: bibliometric using the VOSviewer software (to determine the status and clustering of studies on the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on soils and land based on the Scopus database); expert assessments (to determine the impact of hostilities on violations of the guidelines for sustainable soil management and soil quality); statistical (to process and present the results of expert assessment); calculation-analytical (to assess the damage and losses caused to soils due to Russian armed aggression); monographic and abstract-logical (to summarise the results of the study). The data was collected through an online survey of experts. Results. The testing of the developed methodology made it possible for the first time to carry out an expert assessment of (i) the degree and scale of violation of the FAO guidelines for sustainable soil management due to hostilities; (ii) the strength and extent of the spreading negative impact of hostilities on soils by the following types: mechanical, physical, chemical, physico-chemical, biological, radiation and other types of impact; (iii) the strength of the negative impact of hostilities on soil productivity and their ecosystem services (provisioning, maintenance, regulatory, cultural). The losses (lost benefits) due to the degradation (deterioration) of soil quality in the pilot community due to hostilities in terms of agro-soil potentials of natural and effective fertility were determined. The damage from the reduction in the value of regulatory ecosystem services of soils due to hostilities (on the example of organic carbon sequestration in the soil) was assessed. The approximate damage from the main types of military soil degradation was estimated. Originality / scientific novelty. This study is the first to offer a comprehensive expert assessment of the extent and scale of violations of the FAO guidelines for sustainable soil management caused by hostilities, as well as the damage and losses caused to soils, which deepens the understanding of the negative environmental and economic consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The expert assessment method complements existing methods for assessing military soil degradation. This study contributes to a better understanding of the status, challenges and prospects for sustainable soil management in war and peace, taking into account the consequences of military soil degradation. Practical value / implications. The results of the study can be used to (i) assess the extent and scale of violations of the FAO guidelines for sustainable soil management due to hostilities and to make decisions on sustainable post-war recovery; (ii) assess and predict the impact of hostilities on soil quality, determine damage and losses due to military degradation for further compensation; (iii) improve soil protection policies and practices in terms of sustainable management of militarily degraded soils in the agricultural sector.