The ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine has significantly impacted the forest ecosystems at national scale, including the crucial agroforestry systems in the eastern part of country. This study focuses on estimating the damage caused to forest protective plantations in 2022-2023, with particular focus on the loss of cropland protection function derived by shelterbelts. We used a soil type map and damaged forest cover estimates to report the areas of expected post-war regeneration options by tree species, both native and alien. We applied satellite remote sensing data and raster patch analysis to semi-automatically classify a forest cover mask (as of 2021) on functional types: shelterbelts, urban forests, ravine protection, water protection, and roadside protective plantations. We revealed that 18 % of the protective plantations have been damaged as of 2023. Despite this extensive damage, the overall loss of cropland protection function across the study area was relatively modest, at 2.7 % as of 2023. However, localized hotspots exhibited losses up to 57 %, correlating with the proximity to main fights occurred in 2022-2023. We reported that the majority (81 %) of the damaged plantations are on fertile black earth soils, which favor the regeneration using a variety of native tree species. However, there are hitherto risks associated with the use of alien species, driven both by economic pressures and legislative ambiguities. Our study highlights the importance of satellite data analysis as a tool to report direct war impact on eastern agroforestry region of Ukraine. Simultaneously, we call for strategies to collect high-resolution data for spatial models' calibration and validation. We emphasize the necessity to consider spatial analysis for planning post-war forest regeneration efforts.

The article examines various aspects of establishing factual circumstances in cases related to the pollution of soil-origin objects (using the example of the use of livestock by-products as fertilizers). The results of the analysis of law enforcement practice in cases of this category are presented.

Illegal solid waste dumping is a significant factor contributing to environmental damage. In this study, 16S rRNA gene sequencing technology was used for the identification and assessment of environmental damage in an illegal dumping area in China, with the aim of confirming environmental damage through analyzing changes in the soil bacterial communities across slag, sewage sludge, and non-contaminated areas. The results indicate that the diversity of soil bacteria decreases with an increase in the degree of pollution. The illegal dumping of slag resulted in an increase in the relative abundance of Firmicutes and a decrease in the relative abundance of Acidobacteriota. Additionally, illegal dumping of sewage sludge resulted in an increase in the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and a decrease in the relative abundance of Acidobacteriota. The contents of Ni and Be in slag and Cu, Pb, and Cd in sewage sludge were key factors affecting bacterial community composition. The results reveal the effects of heavy metal pollution on the soil bacterial community structure and its environmental driving factors, thus expanding understanding in the context of management of the environmental damage caused by illegal dumping, as well as providing a perspective on the changes in the soil bacterial community, allowing for environmental damage confirmation.

Despite mitigating several negative impacts caused by the relentless waste production from urban centers, sanitary landfills are enterprises with enormous potential for spreading various kinds of environmental damage. Leachate, a liquid resulting from waste degradation, once disposed into the soil or in surface and groundwaters without proper treatment, will inevitably pollute the environment by the intake of organic matter, heavy metals, and nutrients in violation of legal regulations, causing ecological disruption and posing risks to human health. This study aimed to demonstrate and evaluate the legal and environmental aspects regarding the revocation of the concession for managing the Sanitary Landfill of LagesSC, prompted by an environmental crime that took place on-site, with the legacy of the company awarded the contract being a liability with high remediation costs. To achieve this objective, the research considered regulations related to operational practices in this sector; records of negligent actions by the sectors involved in managing the current situation, using document analysis of public and private archives such as Infraction Notices, Administrative Processes, and Public Civil Actions. It addressed the relationship between the collected data and Environmental Law, and explained civil responsibilities, legal procedures, and environmental measures adopted following the confirmation of the environmental damage.

There is a need to explore management practices that reduce nitrate (NO3-) leaching and aid in meeting current greenhouse gas reduction goals. Tile drainage involves using perforated pipes to remove excess subsurface water from agricultural fields, also removing nutrients. The inclusion of cover crops in tile -drained systems in the Midwest has been shown to reduce NO3 - losses and is potentially a strategy to mitigate soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. The objectives of this research were to 1) evaluate cumulative soil NO3 - and soil N2O losses with and without the inclusion of cover crops in a corn -soybean rotation on a tile -drained landscape and; 2) assess the environmental damage cost (EDC) of N losses with and without the inclusion of cover crops in a corn -soybean rotation on a tile -drained landscape. Corn (Zea mays L.) was grown in 2017, and soybean (Glycine max L.) in 2018. The cover crop used in this experiment was a 92% cereal rye (Secale cereal L.) and 8% daikon radish (Raphanus sativus L.) blend. Treatments included cover crop inclusion, no cover crop inclusion, and a zero control, which did not include cover crops or receive N fertilization. Each treatment was replicated three times in individually tile -drained plots established in Lexington, IL during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. In 2017, cover crop inclusion led to a reduction in NO3- losses of over 50% when compared to the no cover and zero control. In 2018, total N losses were identical; however, there was an increase in soil N2O emissions across all treatments compared to 2017. Despite the apparent tradeoff between N loss pathways in 2018, the overall EDC was reduced primarily because of the reduction in NO3 - loss in the presence of cover crops. The results of this study indicated that the inclusion of a cover crop resulted in a sizeable reduction in N loss during the corn year that equated to a 64% reduction in EDC across a two-year crop rotation.

Reactive nitrogen (Nr) pollution has changed radically accompanied by severe intensive farming. This pollution further contributes to ecological degradation and climate warming. Despite this recognition, little is known about the spatial pattern of various Nr loss from croplands and corresponding environmental costs. Here, we identified the major pathway of Nr loss based on provincial estimates in 2008 and 2018, and validated by synchronous observation of ammonia volatilization, N runoff and N leaching using historical literature synthesis. We also evaluated environmental costs at provincial scale and detected the influence factors that dominating the pollution swapping among different Nr forms. Our results show that the total Nr loss was 6.28 +/- 1.81 and 5.56 +/- 2.30 Tg N yr(-1) for Chinese croplands in 2008 and 2018. Ammonia volatilization, which accounted for more than half of the total Nr at the national scale, was proven to be the major Nr loss for two-thirds of the provinces and 80 % of the field observations. The contribution of runoff, which is dominant by precipitation, soil clay content and CEC, was gradually smaller than that of leaching from southeast to northwest. Ammonia and nitrous oxide contributed of 59.3 % - 65.4 % of TNr but 80.9 % - 81.5 % of total environmental damage caused by Nr in China. The use of nitrification inhibitors and straw return indicated pollution swapping among various Nr forms. This study emphasizes that the future practices to reduce total Nr loss need to account for local environmental conditions and have pollution swapping in sights.

A traditional grid model for soil sampling may suffer from poor efficiency and low accuracy. With a nonferrous metal processing plant as the study area, a three-dimensional kriging interpolation model was built based on this plant's preliminary investigation data for arsenic (As), and a detailed survey sampling programme was proposed. The sampling density at the pollution interval of the surface soil was estimated by the coefficient of variation method, and the sampling depth was determined by the pollution interval of the vertical prediction results. The results showed that the encrypted soil sampling distribution optimisation method obtains greater pointing accuracy with fewer points. The sampling accuracy was 87.62% after optimising the depth of pointing. Moreover, this approach could save 66.13% of the sampling costs and 56.93% of the testing costs compared to a full deployment programme. This study provides a new and cost-effective method for predicting the extent of contamination exceedance at a site and provides valuable information to guide post-remediation strategies for contaminated sites.

The paper presents the results of the environmental impact assessment of the sludge pond for iron-containing waste generated as a result of the economic activities of the Zavolzhsky Chemical Factory located in the Ivanovo Region. In 2020, the sludge pond was included in the state register of objects of accumulated environmental damage. The accumulated sludge, with a volume of about 31 thousand m3, is a spent catalyst generated as a result of diphenylamine production. The main components of the waste are iron (III) oxide, silicon oxide and water, the total content of which is 95%. Heavy metals are also present in trace amounts- organic compounds, copper, nickel, zinc and chromium. The research assessed the quality of atmospheric air, the state of surface and groundwater, as well as the soil cover and soils on the territory of the site where the sludge pond is located. The assessments showed that the main negative impact is on the soil cover, groundwater and river Volga, flowing 185 m from the location of the object. To establish the quality of water in the Volga River, the hydrochemical index of water pollution was used, the value of which exceeded 10, i.e. the Volga River (in the area of the city of Zavolzhsk) according to the class and assessment of water quality belongs to the extremely dirty. In the area of the location of the object in the Volga River, there is an excess of heavy metals by 2-7 times compared to the background sample taken in the control upstream. The quality of groundwater in the survey site does not meet environmental standards and varies from an emergency environmental situation to an environmental disaster zone. The value of the total indicator of chemical pollution of soils and grounds relates the studied area to the category of soil pollution as a high level of pollution (risk for the resident population).

Russia's military aggression against Ukraine has led to the destruction of natural resources, ecosystems, and infrastructure. These actions have violated international principles of environmental safety. The hostilities have caused serious damage to nature reserves, wetlands, and soil. Air and water pollution have a transboundary effect. Russia's actions threaten future generations and the climate. That is why the creation of a mechanism to ensure environmental safety is an urgent problem for world civilization. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the criminal responsibility for ecocide in the context of Russia's military aggression and identify the existing legislative problems in this area and ways to overcome them. The methodology of the study of ecocide and its connection with Russia's military aggression includes analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, dialectic, analytics, analogy, abstraction, and generalization. These methods help to reveal the essence of the problem, establish legal norms, and develop recommendations and priorities for regulating ecocide.