Environmental Dimensions of Conflict and Disaster
Speaker: Muralee Thummarukudy, Operations Manager, United Nations Environmental Programme
Today the environment has emerged as an important factor in conflicts and disasters. First, all conflicts cause environmental damage. Landmines, bombing of industries and chemical plants, and so on can be a cause of environmental concern. Just as important, post-conflict relief activity may also lead to environmental problems. For example, housing large numbers of refugees at one place creates multiple environmental problems, such as water scarcity and sanitation problems. Even the collapse of the government during a conflict period can be a cause of environmental damage as in the case of the large-scale deforestation in Afghanistan. Since 1990, the world has seen 17 major conflicts driven by resources. Sometimes these conflicts were a result of mismanagement of resources while at other times it was about the sharing of scarce resources.
The Post Conflict and Disaster Management Branch (PCDMB) of United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) based in Geneva has, since 1995, conducted activities in more than 15 countries. These activities were both post-conflict and post-disaster in nature. Some of the important programmes undertaken by PGDMB are:
Kosovo Conflict: After the 1999 Balkan wars the UNEP post-conflict branch did an independent assessment of the environmental situation in Serbia. The report found that although some specific locations were affected by the bombings, there was no widespread environmental damage. The branch led a cleanup work at specific contaminated sites.
Sudan: The conflict caused the displacement of 7 million people. According to studies, resource depletion and environmental degradation were the principal reasons that caused the conflict.
Afghanistan: The 23 years of conflict there has led to the displacement of around 10 million people. The Branch has a three phase programme in Afghanistan. Currently under the second phase, the capacity building programme is on.
Iraq: Iraq is a complex case. 200 industrial hot spots were bombed and the agency was not allowed to go to Iraq. So the PCDMB trained Iraqi experts to do the analysis and the clean-up.
Other than these, the Branch's current programmes are in Lebanon, Liberia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Sudan and Somalia with plans also to go to Nepal, Rwanda, Myanmar and some other places if invited. As the PCDMB has a very small team, it is not feasible for the UNEP to engage also in conflict-prevention activities.
