Review of United Nations Environment Programme and Other Post-Conflict Environmental Analyses
Abstract
Increasing social awareness that human activities have measurable effects on the environment includes the realization that warfare contributes its own cadre of environmental consequences, many of which could be better managed before, during, and after periods of armed conflict. Following recent conflicts, various organizations, including the United Nations (UN) Environmental Programme (UNEP), examined the environmental effects of warfare and offer suggestions about means of minimizing these effects in the post-conflict period. This review of UNEP and other post-conflict environmental assessments offers insight into the following key issues: The direct environmental effects from military activities are generally limited in scope and extent, unless the military activity destroys or makes inoperative an industrial facility or critical civil infrastructure (e.g., renders the water supply for a major city unusable). The kinds of environmental degradation associated with large-scale human population displacements (e.g., deforestation by refugees needing fuel for cooking) tend to be widespread, complex, and difficult to resolve. There is a growing recognition of the importance of environmental, natural resource, and civil infrastructure issues at both the strategic and tactical levels of conflict prevention, prosecution/de-escalation, and post-conflict reconstruction. As UNEP gained experience and understanding of the environmental consequences of military action, it recognized that larger issues, notably the existence of environmental, natural resource, and civil infrastructure issues across the conflict lifecycle, can affect the course of the conflict and post-conflict periods.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA573741