Armed conflict not only causes human suffering, displacement, and damage of infrastructure, it also entails extensive degradation of the environment – which in turn threatens livelihoods, aggravates poverty and triggers further conflicts. Protecting the environment during conflict is therefore fundamentally important for peacebuilding. In this context a new study of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) analyses the international legal framework, focusing on four main bodies of law: humanitarian, criminal, environmental, and human rights law.



While this legal framework contains many provisions that directly or indirectly protect the environment, the authors identify significant gaps in their implementation. Humanitarian law, for example, is designed for international conflicts. But most conflicts today are internal and likewise cause environmental destruction or looting of natural resources. Furthermore, imprecise definitions of damage such as “widespread, long-term and severe” imply thresholds that are almost impossible to demonstrate. Clearer definitions, including a UN standard definition of "conflict resources", as well as linking environmental damage to the violation of fundamental human rights, would facilitate more effective legal enforcement. The study also concludes that environmental damage may be considered a criminal offence. This is illustrated by the case against President Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan, who was brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC): The ICC prosecutor charged Bashir with the act of genocide by destroying people’s means of survival, such as water sources. Although the judges dismissed the charge, they "did not deny the nexus between the environmental degradation and the crime of genocide." Overall, the UNEP study confirms the multiple linkages between the environment and issues of humanity, human rights and criminal liability, and offers entry points for improving the legal protection of the environment during armed conflict. (Christiane Roettger)



The study "Protecting the environment during armed conflict" is a joint product of UNEP and the Environmental Law Institute and is available at http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/int_law.pdf

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, December 2009