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

  The environmental impact of conflicts themselves vary greatly . Some international armed conflicts may be brief but highly destructive. Some civil wars may last for decades but be fought at low intensity. Many contemporary conflicts have blurred the lines, lasting years but with sustained periods of high intensity warfare. Who is fighting, where they’re fighting and how they’re fighting all strongly influence the environmental impact of a conflict. High intensity conflicts require and consume vast quantities of fuel, leading to massive CO2 emissions and contributing to climate change. The first three years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine generated 230 MtCO2e – equivalent to the annual emissions of Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia combined. It is the first time that an effort has been made to calculate the emissions from any conflict. Large scale vehicle movements can lead to widespread physical damage to sensitive landscapes and geodiversity , as can the intensive u...