2019 is a hugely symbolic year for the laws protecting the environment in conflict. The adoption of 28 legal principles by the UN’s International Law Commission this month is the first of two major milestones. Stavros Pantazopoulos Looks at what has been agreed, what’s missing and what happens next.
The impacts of climate change are particularly complex in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The region suffers from violent conflicts and severe water scarcity, while climate models show more serious scenarios here than in other regions. This paper explains how the security of the MENA region is inscribed in a new climate reality.
Policy brief which shows that eight of the 10 countries hosting the largest multilateral peace operations in 2018 were located in areas highly exposed to climate change, yet international efforts to build and maintain peace are not yet taking these emerging challenges systematically into account.
A paper examining US military fuel use for the post 9-11 wars, which finds that the Department of Defense emits more CO2 than many countries with advanced economies.
Recent and ongoing conflicts in the MENA have seen the increasing use of water as a weapon and as a target, this paper by the Pacific Institute analyses this trend and considers ways to address it through enhancing protection during conflicts.
First look at the entire suite of draft legal principles that have been under development by the International Law Commission since 2013 and which are intended to enhance protection for the environment in relation to armed conflicts.
In late 2019, the ICRC will launch updated guidelines for militaries on environmental protection during armed conflicts, this blog and animation consider why they are needed.
This article uses open source methods and remote sensing to explore the trail of agricultural destruction caused by fires in central Iraq in May 2019, and reviews the evidence of whether they have been deliberately started by Islamic State.
