The documentary VONA: Inside Ecocide, a joint Ukrainian, German, and Estonian project, will bring a hackathon of the same name to the Marché du Film — Festival de Cannes.
VONA: Inside Ecocide Hackathon takes place from 14-16 May 2024 and aims to unite the efforts of scientists, entrepreneurs, and environmental activists to reduce the impact of war damage on the Ukrainian environment.
Geopolitical tensions and wars of aggression like the one Russia continues to wage against Ukraine also drain resources and attention away from these efforts. Initiatives like VONA: Inside Ecocide Hacakthon are crucial because they keep people focused and bring to light how war and conflict also affect the environment that we all share, including food security.
— Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia
Russia uses pain to break the resistance of the people and occupy Ukraine. Therefore, it intentionally harms the environment and destroys natural ecosystems, and entire species are at risk. Ecocide knows no national borders and should be addressed at the International Criminal Court. […] The global tech community can make an important contribution to ensure that this breakthrough in the global approach to international justice becomes a reality.
— Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of the Center for Civil Liberties
The VONA: Inside Ecocide Hackathon will take place from 14-16 May simultaneously in three locations: Tallinn (Estonia), Kyiv (Ukraine) and Cannes. Over 36 hours straight, experts, activists, policymakers, and filmmakers will work together, all united by one goal, to develop and iterate innovative solutions that will have an impact on the mass destruction of the environment due to war and Ukraine’s international pursuit of justice.
The hackathon seeks to involve startups and technology companies capable of adapting their existing technologies and solutions to address the issues caused by war, such as mapping and assessing environmental destruction in conflict zones, restoring ecosystems, propelling the investigation to support the pursuit of justice for ecological damage due to conflicts and raising awareness.
During the event, teams will work closely with challenge owners from Ukraine’s government, state representatives, academic and research experts, and an international pool of mentors. The ambassadors of the project are Kaja Kallas (leader of the digital country and Prime Minister of Estonia) and Oleksandra Matviichuk (head of the Center for Civil Liberties and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022 from Ukraine).
The estimated impact of the conflict on environmental infrastructures and ecosystems so far...
+52 BILLION € in total damages
497 water management facilities damaged or destroyed
20% of protected areas under threat
+1,4 BILLION € of damages in the forestry sector