9. Impact of War and Armed Conflict on the Environment

This is the 9th and final post in Environmental Law, Unit II — the earlier posts covered remedies against pollution in peacetime; this post covers what happens to the environment, and what the law says, when armed conflict breaks out.

The Problem This Topic Solves

Wars destroy lives first, but they also poison land and water, burn forests and wipe out wildlife. The damage often lasts long after the fighting stops, and it crosses borders. Ordinary environmental remedies fail in wartime because normal courts and regulators cannot function. Students need to know which rules of international law protect the environment during armed conflict.

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.
• Deliberate environmental warfare — the use of herbicides such as Agent Orange in the Vietnam War damaged forests and farmland and harmed human health for decades.
• 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.

International Legal Protection

• ENMOD Convention, 1976 — prohibits the military or hostile use of environmental modification techniques that have widespread, long-lasting or severe effects. It was a response to the use of environmental techniques in the Vietnam War.
• Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, 1977 (Articles 35(3) and 55) — prohibits methods or means of warfare intended, or expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment.
• International humanitarian law (the law of armed conflict) — its general rules also protect the environment. Attacks must be necessary and proportionate, and civilian objects, which include much of the natural environment, must not be targeted without military justification.
• Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998 (Article 8(2)(b)(iv)) — makes it a war crime to launch an attack knowing that it will cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment that is clearly excessive compared with the military advantage expected.
• Rio Declaration, 1992 (Principles 24 and 25) — Principle 24 states that warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development and that States must respect international law protecting the environment in armed conflict. Principle 25 states that peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible.
• UN General Assembly — has declared 6 November as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
• International Law Commission, Draft Principles on the Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflicts, 2022 — a set of draft principles covering protection before, during and after conflict.

Gaps and Developments

The threshold of "widespread, long-term and severe" damage is cumulative and very high, so few acts of environmental harm in war meet it. Accountability is weak, and enforcement against States is difficult. Recent work has focused on clearer standards, on post-conflict clean-up and restoration, and on discussions about recognising large-scale environmental destruction as a distinct crime, sometimes called ecocide.

• War damages the environment through direct destruction, pollution, deliberate environmental warfare, landmines, loss of governance and displacement.
• ENMOD, 1976 bans hostile environmental modification; Additional Protocol I, 1977 (Articles 35(3) and 55) bans widespread, long-term and severe environmental damage as a method of warfare.
• The Rome Statute, 1998 (Article 8(2)(b)(iv)) makes excessive environmental damage in attack a war crime.
• The threshold of "widespread, long-term and severe" damage is high, which limits the protection.

• The three words "widespread, long-term and severe" are cumulative: damage must meet all three.
• International humanitarian law's rules of necessity and proportionality also protect the environment even apart from the special treaties.
• The ILC Draft Principles (2022) extend protection to the pre-conflict and post-conflict phases.

A Practical Example

If forces set fire to oil wells during a conflict, the burning crude pollutes the air and the sea over a wide area for months. Under the law above, such an act may breach Additional Protocol I if the damage is widespread, long-term and severe, and it may be a war crime under the Rome Statute if the harm is clearly excessive compared with the military advantage expected.

Quick Revision Points

• Harms: destruction, pollution, environmental warfare, landmines, collapse of governance, displacement.
• Treaties: ENMOD, 1976; Additional Protocol I, 1977 (Arts 35(3), 55); Rome Statute, 1998 (Art 8(2)(b)(iv)); Rio Declaration, 1992 (Principles 24, 25).
• Test: widespread, long-term and severe damage (cumulative).
• Developments: UN day on 6 November; ILC Draft Principles, 2022; the ecocide debate.