Defoliant spray run, part of Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War by UC-123B Provider aircraft. Photo: USAF/WikimediaStrengthening, enforcing and clarifying existing laws protecting environment in times of conflict could go a long way towards protecting a country’s natural assets during wars, says a new report by legal experts released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).While laws such as Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions do address environmental protection, their wording remains too "stringent and imprecise" it says.
The report's experts recommend that greater precision could be adopted, so that the threshold for environmental damage would be defined as severe environmental impacts over several hundred square kilometres and damage that persists for a period of several months or over a season.
Other recommendations include a new legal instrument that will 'demilitarise' and protect important locations and economically central ecosystems such as groundwater aquifers, agricultural and grazing lands, parks, national forests and habitats of endangered species.
"At the outset of any conflict, critical natural resources and areas of ecological importance would be delineated and designated as ‘demilitarised zones" says the report, Protecting the Environment during Armed Conflict: An Inventory and Analysis of International Law.
The report, based on the expertise of 20 leading legal specialists, also underlines pressing new legal challenges.
International law regulating warfare was developed in an era of state-to-state conflicts.
Today the overwhelming majority of conflicts are internal, meaning that many environmental provisions – weak or otherwise – are not applicable.
In a message released today, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says, "I call on Member States to clarify and expand law on environmental protection in times of war. Existing legal instruments should be adapted to reflect the predominantly internal nature of today’s armed conflicts".
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said, "Destroying and damaging the natural assets and ecological infrastructure of a country or community should be an issue of highest humanitarian concern. The loss of freshwaters and grazing lands to croplands and forests not only lead to direct suffering, but also undermine the survival, the livelihoods and the opportunities for people to recover during and after a conflict."
"I therefore welcome this report, which is among the most comprehensive legal assessment of its kind, as well as its recommendations. I hope it will spur the international community to bring a modern perspective to bear on enforcing, clarifying and enhancing existing laws while focusing on the outstanding and emerging legal gaps linked with armed conflict," he added.
The report calls on the UN General Assembly to request the International Law Commission to carry out a review of the existing laws relating to the environment and conflict.
A permanent UN body – perhaps under the UN General Assembly or the Security Council – may be necessary to monitor violations and process compensation for environmental damage.
The report also calls for the international community to consider strengthening the Permanent Court of Arbitration to address disputes related to environmental damage during armed conflict.
It suggests that the coming year offers an opportunity to progress these legal issues, for example during the First Review Conference of the International Criminal Court State, which will be held in Kampala, Uganda in June 2010.
"Environmental protection should be considered during the First Review Conference of the International Criminal Court Statute in 2010," says the report.
