Inha Pavlii Just ten years ago, the coal industry was one of Ukraine’s largest industries. However, with the beginning of Russia’s armed agg
Just ten years ago, the coal industry was one of Ukraine’s largest industries. However, with the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014, the decay of mining towns in temporarily-occupied territories, accumulating industry debts, and the unstable economic situation have led to the industry’s gradual decline. These challenges stimulated the development of just transition strategies for communities that were previously considered purely mining towns.
A just transition framework envisages addressing social, economic, cultural and environmental issues in regions and cities built around fossil fuel extraction.
There are many examples around the world of single-industry towns that were created on the sites of coal, oil or other natural resource extraction sites.
Once the mines were exhausted or production fell, they became depressed areas where people faced social problems and falling living standards.
In Ukraine, entire regions felt the impacts of intensive mining. In addition to those in the Donbas (an abbreviation of the “Donetsk Coal Basin”), there are also single-industry towns in other regions.
One example is Sheptytskyi (formerly known as Chervonohrad) in the Lviv region in western Ukraine. After becoming a symbol of decline and Soviet colonization, this city entered a just transition process in 1999-2000, planned for completion by 2027. The framework should breathe life into one of the most depressed cities in western Ukraine.Â
What is “just transition” and how does it work?
How do communities abandon coal without harming workers and the environment? Just transition success stories for coal towns do exist, including, for example, the Ruhr region in Germany.
Germany’s Ruhr region in the west can well be called the “German Donbass”. It was here where most of the country’s mines were concentrated, mining a variety of grades of coal. However, when the coal and steel crises began (1950s-1970s), the region struggled economically. When the mines had to be closed, a population outflow was inevitable, and there were no prospects for life in the Ruhr. Local residents came to the rescue, promoting the idea of “reincarnation through culture—culture through reincarnation”. Under this slogan, the Ruhr region went from a large industrial agglomeration to a center of artists, scientists and designers.
Projects to preserve the monuments of the industrial past and develop tourism helped to rebuild the region and make it attractive for living. However, it was not easy. When the mine Zollverein received protection as a state monument, it was the workers who were indignant. Germany then carried out a large-scale program to create over 200,000 new jobs in order to offer former miners an alternative.
Today, the Zollverein was preserved in the state it was in when the mine ceased operation. It houses a museum and the coal mine is now filled with exhibits, tours and tourists instead of coal. In 2010, the Ruhr was even chosen as one of Europe’s cultural capitals.
