Our new analysis of government views on a UN project to enhance the legal protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts has found considerable reluctance to strengthen rules that would help protect people and ecosystems.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a stark reminder of the human and environmental costs of armed conflict. In this post, Rachel Killean examines the legal avenues that could be open for Ukraine in seeking accountability and redress for environmental damage.
States should support the establishment of an intergovernmental science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and pollution, argues Linsey Cottrell. Doing so could also help draw attention to conflict pollution.
When wars end without clear resolution, conflicts can become frozen. In this post, Clayton Payne examines how the frozen conflicts affecting Georgia’s breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have influenced their environment, and how it is managed.
This guest commentary from UNIDIR argues that we need to explore how climate change is influencing the trade, use and legacy of conventional weapons – and how arms flows will exacerbate climate insecurity.
Thousands of people have helped raise the profile of the environment causes and consequences of war over the last 20 years, this #EnvConflictDay post explores how they have done that, and encourages us to take a day to reflect on our collective achievements.
With so much focus on how climate change can influence security, have we neglected the question of how conflicts influence emissions? As Eoghan Darbyshire and Doug Weir explain, environmental and social changes in conflict-affected and post-conflict areas can mean significant changes in emissions.
Designating biodiversity hotspots as protected areas during conflicts could help reduce environmental harm but this must be done in non-violent, conflict-sensitive and inclusive ways if it is to secure biodiversity, not just from war, but also for peace. This post is part of a series on war, law and the environment co-hosted with the ICRC.
