6th November 2021:The International day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
On 5th November 2001, The United Nation General Assembly has declared 6th November as the international day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
Despite the protection afforded by several legal instruments, the environment continues to be the silent victim of armed conflicts worldwide.
Public concern regarding the targeting and use of the environment during wartime results in massive deforestation and chemical contamination causing an international outcry leading to the severe damage to the natural environment. According to the United Nations 1% increase in global temperature leads to 4.5% of civil war.
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A Nepalese peacekeeper with the African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) plants a tree outside UNAMID Headquarters in El Fasher, Sudan.
PHOTO: UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran
Though humanity has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war. Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed to gain military advantage >>>