International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict

  Across conflict-affected areas, stories of affected infrastructure, water resource challenges, deforestation, and oil pollution, backed by satellite imagery, open source investigations, and official accounts, show there is a long road to recovery. And when the guns are put down, when the fighting stops, that doesn’t mean the path is clear. Legacy munitions, land grabbing and governance vacuums can all contribute to unprecedented environmental damage. These impacts may be compounded by climate change. Yet not all is lost. More and more, issues around conflict and the environment are gaining traction. States and global institutions are recognising they need capacity to identify, act on and mitigate the environmental risks that can destabilise societies, and that can occur because of armed conflicts. Humanitarian actors are actively incorporating environmentally sensitive approaches in post-conflict efforts to reduce future harm . To build sustainable peace and support communities...

  As we drive up, the desolate farm in the shadow of north-western Iraq’s Sinjar mountain looks like many others in the area. The farmhouse is abandoned, the fields are barren. A neighbour, curious about our visit, wanders over and explains that the owner used to grow olives, wheat, and vegetables. But, like half of the farmers in this village, he and his family haven’t returned since fleeing from the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) four years ago. Why? One clue is the large water tank near the farm’s irrigation well: empty. Another is the lengths of plastic irrigation pipes nearby: broken and scattered. On closer inspection, the entrance to the irrigation well is stained with oil, with oil stains also visible in and around ruptures in the black plastic irrigation pipe leading from the well. Oil doesn’t spontaneously appear in irrigation wells in this part of Iraq. This farm, and many others like it, are war crime scenes. Iraq declared military victory over IS just ov...

For nine years the war in Syria has brought mayhem and misery to its population. Millions are displaced, hundreds of thousands killed, many more wounded and the country is in ruins. Fighting in urban, industrial, and agricultural areas has left a trail of environmental destruction that will remain for decades. PAX published ‘ Amidst the Debris ’, a study on environmental dimensions of the armed conflict in Syria in 2015, followed by ’ Scorched Earth and Charred Lives ’, a satellite analysis on the rise of artisanal oil refining in Deir ez Zor, in 2016. Investigation and monitoring the impacts of conflict events on the environment and subsequently, civilians, is crucial for addressing health and livelihood concerns in humanitarian response and post-conflict reconstruction work . Security concerns often hinder access to conflict areas limiting data collection on environmental damage , including biodiversity and natural resources. Therefore, geographical information systems (GIS) and...

  One of the biggest challenges for Colombia after signing the Peace Agreement is the institutional vacuum and lack of environmental governance in the territories most affected by the armed conflict . The 2016 Peace Agreement signed between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP guerrillas provided that the guerrillas would disarm and reintegrate into society. The Peace Agreement did not provide, however, the necessary environmental governance provisions that meet the needs of remote territories after the armed groups demobilize. Although the Agreement has some general environmental provisions, mainly related to environmental protection areas, it was not specific in terms of the environmental governance of the territories and natural resources. Unfortunately, four years after the signing of the Agreement, there is a power vacuum. The FARC no longer governs the territories it had controlled, and the Colombian government has not been able to effectively re-establish governance a...

  The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) has the unenviable distinction of being the most heavily bombed country on earth. From 1964-1973, the U.S. dropped over 2 million tons of explosive ordnance on Lao PDR in one of the largest aerial bombardments in history. The widespread damage caused by the explosions killed and injured tens of thousands of people, destroyed entire villages, riddled the earth with bomb craters, and scorched countless acres of agricultural land and unique biodiverse ecosystems endemic to Lao PDR. As a case study about the environmental impacts of the use of explosive weapons in armed conflict , Lao PDR presents a strong cautionary tale. The massive harm from explosive weapons at the time of their use and the scale of the still-present threat of UXO contamination are obvious arguments for prevention of environmental harm before the conduct of military intervention . It is also important in as the consideration of environmental harm caused during, and aft...

  Agriculture is the lifeblood of the Yemeni economy and its culture. However, our assessment of environmental change during Yemen’s armed conflict reveals severe and widespread agricultural distress. Our analysis indicates these changes mostly occurred because of factors linked to conflict. In many cases, the impact of these factors has been amplified by historical policies, especially around water access, which have increased vulnerability. Yemen is food insecure, and many Yemenis face famine conditions. Because of this it is important that urgent steps are taken to limit further losses to its agricultural sector. The COVID-19 pandemic is reducing humanitarian assistance to Yemen as healthcare comes under greater pressure, aid becomes harder to deliver, and donors face economic pressure at home. Protecting and restoring Yemen’s agricultural sector in an economically, environmentally, and culturally sustainable way will be critical for increasing the resilience of Yemen’s people. ...

 Long before hostilities broke out in 2014, the coal-producing Donbas region was among the heaviest industrialised areas of imperial Russia, the former USSR and later independent Ukraine. By the beginning of the conflict the area was home to thousands of industrial facilities, including 130 heavy ones such as metal smelting or chemical production. Heavy industry in the Donbas region is severely impacted by the conflict. Factors including the fighting itself, difficulties with the supply of raw materials, water, and energy, and severe logistical challenges combined to make the working environment utterly unsafe. Enterprises were shelled, and in times of heavy fighting, certain staff had to live on the premises. Based on open source information, production at almost 250 enterprises was compromised in one way or another, and more than 80% of the compromised facilities have high or very high levels of potential environmental risk. Today many Donbas industries no longer work at full cap...

As a vital resource for basic social needs and economic activities, water management has strong implications at the local level. Further, as a resource in motion flowing both at the surface and underground, water constitutes a physical link that sets the preconditions of social cohesion in a given territory. The watershed often constitutes the common denominator for cultural identity of riparian communities, and remains the landmark where societies evolve. In Sahelian societies, community livelihoods and their interactions are organised around the river flood cycle. In order to explore cultural roots and intimate linkages that connect people to water, and increase awareness about local populations’ challenges, the Geneva Water Hub partnered with the “Festival à Sahel Ouvert”, held in Mboumba on the bank of the Senegal River in February 2020. As stressed by the artist Baaba Maal, originally from this Fulani region: “This river has always been a connector for the consolidation of peace ...

 In the last decade, understanding of the environmental dimensions of armed conflicts has dramatically improved and is increasingly addressed in the international policy agenda. The drivers and consequences of harm are better understood through growing datasets and monitoring opportunities; environmental harms, incidents and trends are more visible; states, international organisations and civil society are more cognisant of the linkages and the need for action, and; a normative legal framework to enhance protection throughout the cycle of conflicts is emerging. Growing awareness of environmental impactsfrom military operations , be it in the targeting decisions and risks assessments or the environmental footprint , should result in further prevention, mitigation, and minimization of environmental damage. Prioritizing environmental objectives in peace processes can create pathways for effective conflict transformation. While post-conflict environmental recovery can incorporate nat...