Environment, the most unpublicized victim of war

World religious leaders are often proclaiming that as part of our spirituality we need to get actively and effectively involved in the climate change battle which could have catastrophic consequences for the human race, nature and its extraordinary biodiversity. 

In Glasgow tomorrow, a summit meeting of world leaders will be held to discuss urgent ways of tracking this issue. The Daily Mirror’s international affairs expert Ameen Izzadeen in his column yesterday said, “Come Sunday, world leaders or their representatives will gather in Glasgow, Scotland for talks aimed at making the planet habitable for generations to come and for them to live in harmony with nature. It will be the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties – COP26. Described as a “turning point for humanity” and “the most consequential summt ever. The gathering from October 31 to November 12 seeks to take the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change to the next level by adopting more urgent and realistic measures to curb the rise in global temperatures preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, though the aim was two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. Since the first UN Environment summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, there have been many proposals at global summits but whether the nations have walked the talk is as big a question as the challenge of saving the planet and us from coming calamities, about which precursors have already come in the form of extreme weather conditions such as prolonged droughts, devastating floods and forest fires.”

On November 6, the United Nations marks the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. In a statement, the UN highlights some important facts and how major social justice factors—such as the battle against climate change, the battle for poverty alleviation, nuclear disarmament and peaceful conflict-resolution instead of resorting to war or violence—are interconnected and therefore vital for the survival of the human race and creation. 

The world body says though humanity has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war. Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned and animals killed to gain military advantage. Furthermore, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that during the past 60 years, at least 40% of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources, whether high-value resources such as timber, diamonds, gold and oil, or scarce resources such as fertile land and water. Conflicts involving natural resources have also been found to be twice as likely to relapse.

The UN says it attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace-building strategies, because there can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed. On November 5, 2001, the UN General Assembly declared November 6 of each year as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. On  May 27, 2016, the UN Environment Assembly adopted a resolution, which recognized the role of healthy ecosystems and sustainably managed resources in reducing the risk of armed conflict, and reaffirmed its strong commitment to the full implementation of the sustainable development goals listed in General Assembly resolution, titled “Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development”.

Referring to the European Union and UN partnership on land and natural resource conflicts, the world body says six UN agencies and departments coordinated by the UN Framework Team for Preventive Action have partnered with the EU to help countries identify, prevent and transform tensions over natural resources as part of conflict prevention and peace-building programmes.

Drawing attention to the global research programme on post-conflict peace-building and natural resources the UN says the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the UNEP, and the Universities of Tokyo and McGill initiated a global research programme to collect lessons learned and good practices on managing natural resources during post-conflict peace-building. This four-year research project has yielded more than 150 peer-reviewed case studies by more than 230 scholars, practitioners and decision-makers from 55 countries. This represents the most significant collection to date of experiences, analyses and lessons in managing natural resources to support post-conflict peace-building.