Impact of War and Armed Conflicts on Environment

In one minute

War poisons land and water, burns forests and kills wildlife. The damage lasts long after the fighting and crosses borders.

International law protects the environment in armed conflict through a few treaties, the rules of humanitarian law and soft law. The key test is damage that is "widespread, long-term and severe".

Legal provision

• ENMOD Convention, 1976: prohibits the military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques that have widespread, long-lasting or severe effects.
• Articles 35(3) and 55, Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, 1977: prohibit methods or means of warfare intended or expected to damage the natural environment. The damage must be widespread, long-term and severe.
• Article 8(2)(b)(iv), Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998: makes it a war crime to launch an attack knowing it will cause widespread, long-term and severe environmental damage. The damage must be clearly excessive against the military advantage expected.
• Principles 24 and 25, Rio Declaration, 1992: Principle 24 says warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development, and States must respect international law protecting the environment in armed conflict. Principle 25 says peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible.
• International Law Commission, Draft Principles on Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts, 2022: 27 draft principles covering protection before, during and after a conflict.

Meaning and definition

The impact of war on the environment is the harm that armed conflict does to nature. It comes from direct attack, pollution, deliberate environmental warfare or the breakdown of normal protection.

• Environment in armed conflict
  • ENMOD, 1976Bans hostile use of environmental modification techniques.
  • Additional Protocol I, 1977Articles 35(3) and 55 ban widespread, long-term and severe damage.
  • Rome Statute, 1998Article 8(2)(b)(iv) makes clearly excessive damage a war crime.
  • Rio Declaration, 1992 and ILC Draft Principles, 2022Soft law that urges States to respect and widen protection.

Detailed explanation

Step 1: how war damages the environment

• Direct destruction: bombing and shelling destroy forests, farmland, water systems and industrial sites.
• Pollution: attacks on oil wells, refineries and chemical plants release toxic smoke and spills. The oil-well fires in Kuwait during the 1991 Gulf War are a well-known example.
• Environmental warfare: the use of herbicides such as Agent Orange in the Vietnam War damaged forests and farmland.
• Landmines and unexploded weapons: they make land unusable and endanger people and animals.
• Collapse of governance: protected areas go unguarded, poaching and illegal logging rise and waste is left unmanaged.
• Displacement: large refugee movements put pressure on land, water and forests.

Step 2: the treaty rules

ENMOD bans deliberate use of environmental modification as a weapon. Additional Protocol I bans warfare methods that cause widespread, long-term and severe damage. The Rome Statute makes clearly excessive environmental damage in an attack a war crime.

Step 3: humanitarian law rules

International humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict) also protects the environment in general terms. Attacks must be necessary and proportionate. The proportionality rule bars an attack whose harm would be clearly excessive against the military advantage. Civilian objects, which include much of the natural environment, must not be attacked unless they become military objectives.

Step 4: soft law and the ILC work

Principles 24 and 25 of the Rio Declaration, 1992 are not binding treaty text. They state the aim. The International Law Commission adopted the Draft Principles in 2022. They extend protection to the time before and after the conflict, including repair of harm.

Step 5: gaps and developments

• The three words "widespread, long-term and severe" are cumulative under Additional Protocol I. Few acts of harm meet the threshold.
• Accountability is weak, and enforcement against States is hard.
• Recent work focuses on clearer standards, post-conflict clean-up and restoration.
• There is debate on treating large-scale environmental destruction as a separate crime, called ecocide.

Don't confuse: ENMOD and Additional Protocol I

Point	ENMOD, 1976	Additional Protocol I, 1977
What it bans	Hostile use of environmental modification techniques	Methods or means of warfare that damage the natural environment
Threshold	Widespread, long-lasting or severe effects	Widespread, long-term and severe damage
Focus	Using nature itself as a weapon	Harm to nature as a result of warfare

Common mistakes

• Writing "widespread, long-term or severe" for Additional Protocol I. The three words are all required there. The "or" belongs to ENMOD.
• Treating the Rio Declaration as a binding treaty.
• Forgetting that the Rome Statute needs damage that is clearly excessive against the military advantage.
• Stating dates or figures about a conflict without a source.

Leading case laws

No case in the syllabus list turns on war and the environment. The law is mainly in treaties and humanitarian law. Indian environmental case law covers peacetime pollution and does not deal with armed conflict.

How to write this answer in the exam

Key points to remember

• War harms the environment through destruction, pollution, environmental warfare, landmines, loss of governance and displacement.
• ENMOD, 1976 bans hostile environmental modification. Additional Protocol I, 1977 (Articles 35(3), 55) bans widespread, long-term and severe damage.
• Rome Statute, 1998 (Article 8(2)(b)(iv)): clearly excessive environmental damage in an attack is a war crime.
• Rio Principles 24 and 25 are soft law. The ILC Draft Principles were adopted in 2022.
• The threshold is high and enforcement is weak.

Quick self-test

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