INTERNATIONAL: iCLEAR - Innovating the Chernobyl Landscape: Environmental Assessment for Rehabilitation and Management

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The 1986 Chernobyl accident led to the immediate and permanent evacuation of more than 100,000 people from a huge area of land, creating the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). After >30 years as a permanently evacuated area, other options for the CEZ are now being actively considered in Ukraine. The President of Ukraine has recently requested the end-users of this project, the Chernobyl ECOCENTRE and the State Agency of Ukraine for Exclusion Zone Management (SAUZEM) to develop a new strategy for its future management. The purpose of the iCLEAR project is to support SAUZEM and ECOCENTRE in the development of this long term strategy by building on our NERC science to develop the first Environmental Management Information System (EMIS) for the CEZ, informed by the first stakeholder consultation exercise on scenario planning for CEZ management.The UK and Ukrainian team will work together to develop a stakeholder-informed EMIS which will provide the end users with clear answers to the key scientific questions necessary for evaluation of management options. This will include an evaluation of the spatial distribution of present and future risk of radiation to humans and wildlife and determination of the spatial distribution of resources in the zone. For Ukraine, the CEZ represents a unique and important potential resource for agriculture, wildlife conservation and (in the 10 km near-zone) radioactive waste disposal. This proposal meets ODA and Global Challenges sustainable development objectives by supporting Ukraine to increase its agriculturally productive land. If just 10-15% of the abandoned lands could be returned to agricultural use, the newly exploited area would represent a land value in excess of $100 Million. But effecting change in the CEZ is highly complex because of its political and emotional significance. So, it is essential that the future zone strategy is based on the best available scientific evidence and is as open as possible, using internationally recommended methods for stakeholder communication and involvement. The applicants, partner institutes (Ukrainian Institute for Agricultural Radiology, UIAR and Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute, UHMI) and end-users have extensive data and resources to provide answers to the key questions identified for decision-making. These include key monitoring data and GIS contamination maps. The project will also build on new research provided by the NERC "TREE" project which has successfully used the CEZ as a natural laboratory to study transfers and effects of radioactivity. iCLEAR will also use research on the impacts of forest fire in the CEZ developed within the NERC Urgency grant "REDFIRE". Coupled with extensive monitoring and mapping data developed by our local project partners and end users, these unique, but unconsolidated, datasets will be incorporated in a new GIS based EMIS. This EMIS will translate our NERC science into an essential scientific underpinning for CEZ management decision making. Long term sustainability of the EMIS and Stakeholder Group is a key project objective. This will be ensured through the embedding of the EMIS in the end user agencies during their active participation in its development. The project will include consolidation of the tool within the end-users agencies, ensuring it meets their needs and can deliver the necessary outcomes. The system will be used to explain distribution of current and future radiation risk in interactions with local communities, industry (forestry and agricultural state enterprises) and other stakeholders in their ongoing development and implementation of the new CEZ strategy. The results of iCLEAR will have direct relevance to management of other abandoned territories, particularly in neighbouring Belarus and in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan. Existing links of the project team with administrations of these areas will facilitate knowledge exchange.