International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict: Peace for a Sustainable Environment

By Parrot Nigeria On Nov 11, 2021

When wars and armed conflicts breakout in a place our assessment of the extent of the resultant damage is always placed on the number of causalities, displaced people, destroyed cities and other settlements. We usually ignore the fact that the components of our environment are also destroyed and arevictims of war. To displace or gain access to enemy territories, our forest and its biodiversity of plants and animals are usually destroyed by explosives and toxic chemicals. These actions addto the removal of forest covers that works to mop out Carbon dioxide and supply us with fresh Oxygen. Forest cover removal adds a lot to the global warming phenomenon which is an already existing treat to humanity. Water bodies are usually contaminated with toxic materials from bombs and chemicals destroying the marine ecosystem and halting supply of water needed for agriculture and other municipal use within the affected areas and other beneficiary locations. Pollutions to the environment can come from chemicals from explosives, radioactive materials used during wars, toxic materials from chemicals, combustion from fuels used in powering war vehicles and the residual products of heavy bombings. Heavy bombings and fuels used during wars add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere this adds more to the global challenge of climate change. During wars and armed conflicts fertile lands are destroyed leading to loss of means of livelihood and food shortage in the affected areas and environs. The results of wars and armed conflicts are usually devastating and unpalatable to humans and our environment this is why advocating for global peace should be seen as very important today.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) found that 40 percent of all internal conflicts have links to exploitation of natural resources like solid minerals, fossil fuels, agricultural resources like fertile land, water and many others. This was observed to have been occurring for over the last 60 years according to UNEP. In view of these issues the United Nations General Assembly on the 5th of November 2001, declared 6 November of each year as The International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict (A/RES/56/4). Further on this, the UN environment assembly on the 27th of May 2016, adopted resolution UNEP/EA.2/Res.15 which recognized the role of a healthy ecosystems and sustainably managed resources in reducing the risk of armed conflict and reaffirmed its strong drive to the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

We must come to terms with the fact that wars have done more harm to us and our environment than what we plan to achieve from it. To achieve a stable ecosystem a serious campaign for peaceful co-existence between and within nations across the globe is very vital. Dialogues should be embraced as a means of conflict resolution. Governments of nations and regional bodies should be quick in interfering in conflicts before it degenerates into war. Natural resources like solid minerals, fossil fuel, fertile lands, water resources and others should be adequately managed by the relevant authorities in such a way that struggle for possession or clash of interest in usage will not occur. Proper and fair management of natural resources is very important because struggle for resources in most cases often leads to wars and armed conflicts between the parties involved. As we campaign against wars and conflicts we should also campaign for adequate and proper management of our natural resources in a sustainable manner for the present and future generations to avoid crisis that arise from the use of these resources.