For centuries, numerous wars have brought annihilation of human life and widespread environmental impacts through deliberate damage to natural resources. Modern warfare and technological advances fueled up this ‘collateral damage’ with its prolonged effects on global climate and biodiversity that lead to unprecedented environmental havoc and ecological disturbances. Today, casualties associated with war, from manufacturing weapons to increased production of arms, exploit both human lives and natural environments in various parts of the world. Timber in Liberia, oil in Sudan, and diamonds in Sierra Leone caused a tragic outcome for wild animal populations while profiteering an ever-running billion-dollar arms market across the world.
During the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the number of elephants shrunk from 22,000 to 5,000, and there were only 15 white rhinos left alive after some point of time.
“The environment has long been a silent casualty of war and armed conflict. From the contamination of land and the destruction of forests to the plunder of natural resources and the collapse of management systems, the environmental consequences of war are often widespread and devastating.” -Ban Ki-moon
Increased production of Warfare:
Profit based on the unprecedented growth of bureaucratic and military activity and economic aggravation is at the core of the present capitalist system. Based on this spurt in the production of weapons, an international market has been created for sale and purchase of armaments that have caused environmental sabotage indirectly through environmentally destructive strategy. Additionally, the prolonged civil wars created millions of refugees, change of habitat which brought natural catastrophe through deforestation and contamination of soil and water due to forced settlement in new areas. Due to the refugee influx from the Rwandan conflict in 1994, roan antelope and the eland became extinct when the country's Akagera National Park was opened to refugees to settle down.
Natural resource exploitation:
The carbon footprints of modern warfare have a typically enormous strain on environmental resources, although military emissions that are not calculated in the national greenhouse gas inventories. The U.S. military is one of the world’s biggest institutional consumers of crude oil, with an estimated two-thirds of this fossil fuel being used to deliver more fuel to the vehicles at the battlefront. Since the invasion of Iraq, the US military used 190.8m litres of oil every month and is responsible for 141m tons of carbon releases in its first four years of the Iraq war. In 1991, mass destruction of ecosystems occurred due to the 630 burning oil wells in Kuwait. Such "ecocide" is considered a crime against humanity done by warmongers who constantly denied the impact of war on climate change by distorting science and truth.
Use of Advanced Weapons:
The proliferation of nuclear and chemical weaponry including production and testing left irreparable effects on the environment. Since the bombing of Japan by the U.S. military at the end of World War II and the Vietnam War in the 1970s, military aggression caused severe loss of natural habitat, damaged ecosystems, and had negative effects on the human population. The most infamous of chemical weapons used by the US, Agent Orange has had a profound impact on soil, water and the ecosystem of Vietnam while at least 35% of South Vietnam’s forests were sprayed with Agent Orange over a nine-year period of time. There was a disastrous effect on tropical forests, leading to complete destruction of biodiversity including hundreds of different species of birds and insects. Alarmingly dangerous use of an estimated 320 tons of depleted uranium (DU) during the 1991 Gulf War, created havoc by poisoning soil and water, causing cancer and making the environment carcinogenic.
According to the UN Environment Programme, it is found that at least 40% of all internal conflicts for the last 60 years have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources. The vicious cycle of armed conflict and pervading corruption of militarized economy used a huge amount of money collected from public exchequer spent on human death and environmental destruction. Today earth is paying the heaviest price of endless war waged worldwide by plundering natural resources. Instead of preserving nature and promoting sustainable living, huge money is used for the military budget for the new nuclear arms race. By slashing funds on science, renewable energy and the preservation of biodiversity towards community welfare, trillions of dollars are squandered in modernizing nuclear weapons, which will only cause irreversible damage to our planet. It is time for people to come forward and be united to organize movements against pervasive military aggression and warmongering just for peace, life and livelihood on Earth Day.
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