Analysis of the locations where US forces fired depleted uranium weapons in the 2003 Iraq War which revealed its widespread use in urban areas and against non-armoured targets.
The mission to Iraq’s Mosul Dam proved that there is a growing need for UNEP to be integrated in the humanitarian world. The environment lies at the very heart of many of the world’s most devastating humanitarian disasters.
Conflicts over water have long haunted the Middle East. Yet in the current fighting in Iraq, the major dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are seen not just as strategic targets but as powerful weapons of war.
The lack of a clear strategy to deal with the legacy of the use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions in Iraq, from either the Coalition Forces, the Coalition Provisional Authority or the Iraqi government, has resulted in the continued exposure of civilians to DU.
The aim of this report is to provide greater clarity on the impact that the use of DU has had on Iraqi society; in doing so it will document the persistent uncertainty that continues to affect the daily lives of Iraqi civilians.
An assessment of the capacity of Iraq’s environment ministry in 2006 found it to be in good shape but made recommendations to improve its work.
This assessment identified the need for a priority programme of site assessment and emergency intervention at contaminated sites, and follow up work by UNEP and the Ministry of Environment to address the identified toxic waste on the worst of the first five sites has commenced.
This document summarises the results of environmental assessments of the 1991 Gulf War undertaken by IUCN-the World Conservation Union and collaborators during the period 1991 to 1993.
