International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environ

Yearly on November 6, the world observes the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. This day serves as a reminder of the devastating impact that war and conflict can have on our environment.

Watch Environmental Security in War and Armed Conflict!

The UN Environment programme stands committed to protecting and restoring the environment in areas torn by conflict.

Nearly 1.5 billion people, over 20 per cent of the world’s population, live in conflict-affected areas and fragile states.

War and armed conflict present a risk for humanity and other forms of life on our planet. Too many lives, and species, are at stake.

Decades of ugly wars in countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia or Iraq have led to the immense loss of natural resources. In Afghanistan alone, we have witnessed astounding deforestation rates which have reached 95 per cent in some areas.

In 2017, the Islamic State triggered vast toxic clouds by setting ablaze oil wells and a sulfur factory near the Iraqi city of Mosul, poisoning the landscape and people.

Critical biodiversity hotspots in Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan have offered cover and refuge for rebel groups.

This has been disastrous for wildlife and forest conservation as these habitats have opened the doors to illegal logging, unregulated mining, massive poaching and breeding grounds for invasive species.

Elephant populations have been decimated in DR Congo and Central African Republic, while in Ukraine the Siverskyi Donets River has been further damaged by pollution from the conflict.

In Gaza, Yemen, and elsewhere, water infrastructure, from groundwater wells to wastewater treatment plants and pumping stations to desalination plants have been damaged, posing environmental and public health risks.

It would be a dangerous mistake to ignore these environmental consequences of conflict, and the international community needs to act with greater urgency.

This International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict I urge you all to speak up boldly and renew your commitment to protecting our imperiled planet, even in the face of hostile armed aggression.

Through resolutions passed at the Second and Third UN Environment Assemblies in 2016 and 2017, Member States demonstrated their recognition of the need to improve protection of the environment in times of armed conflict.

As part of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development we also need to integrate natural resource and environmental issues into conflict assessments and planning.

We must place transparency and better mechanisms for monitoring, collecting, sharing and assessing information on potential environmental impacts at the centre of our oversight and protection of natural resources in armed conflict. And we must build capacity to deploy these mechanisms, including through Massive Open Online Courses that help democratize assess to key knowledge. Last year, over 10,000 people from 170 countries enrolled in the UN-backed MOOC on Environmental Security and Sustaining Peace. We should aim to double this number in 2019.

I urge you all to renew your commitment to jealously protect our planet from the debilitating effects of war and especially at a time our warming planet is already threatened by the impacts of runaway climate change.

With the 2030 Agenda, and the concurrent efforts of the United Nations Environment Assembly and the International Law Commission, we have a range of important tools at our disposal to promote environmental peacebuilding.

As a growing body of knowledge emerges, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPax), with support from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP),  recently launched a Toolkit on Monitoring and Evaluation of Environmental Peacebuilding. It is a comprehensive framework to equip global practitioners with tools to effectively monitor, evaluate, and learn from environmental peacebuilding policy.

PeaceNexus has teamed up with Conservation International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to produce this unique podcast, as we believe that these are among the most urgent and important questions of our time. The four organisations are committed to building bridges between the different communities working on conservation, environmental and climate challenges, and peace, and to explore opportunities for collaborating on environmental issues in ways that bring people together within and across societies. A 7-episode podcast series that delves into these issues and presents examples of how to connect environment and peace issues in practice.

Introducing "Voices for Peace and Conservation"

The UN Environment has collected and analysed field evidence on conflict risks and peacebuilding opportunities from a range of sources, including UN Environment field assessments and 14 case studies. The work was synthesized in the flagship policy report From Conflict to Peacebuilding: The Role of Natural Resources and the Environment.

Following on from this report, we helped establish a partnership with the European Union to develop guidance on preventing conflicts linked to land and natural resources through improved natural resource governance. We also formed a partnership with the Environmental Law Institute, the Universities of Tokyo and McGill, and a range of other partners and institutes to establish the largest global research programme on natural resources and post-conflict peacebuilding.

A major milestone was achieved in 2013, when the UN-wide guidance note on Natural Resource Management in Transition Settings was endorsed by 38 UN agencies, funds and programmes. Also in 2013, UN Environment launched an international knowledge platform and community of practice on environmental peacebuilding. The platform is regularly accessed by users from 185 countries and supports a virtual Community of Practice with over 3,000 people from 90 countries.

Major programmes on natural resources and peace are now included within UN Environment’s country programmes in both Sudan and Afghanistan. This foundation can now be deepened and scaled up by the relevant parts of the UN system in support of Member State requests and their specific needs for technical assistance.

Going forward, we are focusing on the Environmental Peacebuilding Knowledge Platform and community of practice, as well as developing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

A silent victim of violent conflict, the environment is often directly damaged by hostilities through the use of specific weapons, the targeting of industrial sites and infrastructure, or the use of “scorched earth” tactics and reliance on conflict resources. In addition, indirect impacts of conflict can cause significant environmental damage.

In 2009, UN Environment published a flagship policy report: Protecting the Environment During Armed Conflict – An Inventory and Analysis of International Law. In response to the recommendations of this report, the International Law Commission (ILC) formally adopted the topic into its long-term programme and appointed Marie G. Jacobsson of Sweden as Special Rapporteur on the topic. The report also provided clear recommendations to the International Committee of the Red Cross to update the Guidelines for Military Manuals and Instructions on the Protection of the Environment in Times of Armed Conflict. A revised version of the guidelines is expected to be published in 2017.

As part of this work, we also host events and support the UN Secretary-General in commemoration of the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, which takes place each year on 6 November.

We offer technical expertise to help transform local and transboundary conflicts over natural resources and the environment into opportunities for confidence building, cooperation, and joint benefit. Upon request, we can act as an impartial expert and trusted third party in the mediation of resource conflicts by drawing on our neutrality, technical orientation, and expertise in environmental cooperation.

Our expertise is also available to international mediation processes in which technical know-how on natural resources can play a constructive role and complement the mediation team’s competencies. This service can be related to disputed natural resources or using shared natural resources as a platform for cooperation and confidence building between the parties. For more information, download our report, Natural Resources and Conflict: A Guide for Mediation Practitioners.

While natural resources are key to achieving sustainable development, they are also increasingly acting as drivers of fragility, conflict and violence.

As the global population continues to rise, the global demand for resources continues to grow, and the impacts of climate change begin to materialize, competition over natural resources is set to intensify.

In the aftermath of violent conflict, natural resources such as land, timber, minerals, oil, and gas are often the primary assets that governments can access. How they use these assets can fundamentally alter the course of peacebuilding. The challenge lies in encouraging the responsible, equitable and sustainable use of those resources the revenues they generate.

Against this background, UN Environment’s Environmental Cooperation for Peacebuilding programme supports efforts to consolidate peace by providing expertise on the conflict risks and peacebuilding opportunities associated with natural resources and the environment. For more information, download our Summary of Progress, or read through our major areas of work below.