Rescuers work at a fuel storage facility hit by cruise missiles, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continued in Lviv, March 27, 2022. Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Reuters
Recently, fires broke out in a forest around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine. Satellite imagery from the European Space Agency revealed at least seven fires within the plant’s exclusion zone. Officials from Ukraine warnIt would be difficult for them to be extinguished because the area has been occupied by Russian troops.
With increasing awareness of the importance of environmental damage and social media’s ability to speedily relay news, it has been more evident in the conflict in Ukraine than in other conflicts. This has only served to highlight weaknesses in the legal framework to prevent them.
The risks in Ukraine are increased by the country’s densely populated nature and high level of industrialisation. According to the Environmental Peacebuilding Association, attacks on civilian and military sites have already led to major fires in fuel storage areas. Fighting in Kharkiv also caused a rupture in a gas pipeline. It also claimsThe widespread Russian attacks against civilian infrastructure, including water infrastructure, are clearly violations of international law.
High levels of anxiety are also associated with a nuclear accident. Russia occupies Chernobyl. Until recentlyIt refused to take over the work of the workers who had been on duty since Russia seize the site. In the south-east of Ukraine, Russian troops also attacked Zaporizhzhia’s nuclear power station in March. Ukraine has reported damage. Two nuclear waste facilitiesWhile the conflict has been disrupted, day-to-dayMonitoring of radiation and air quality.
One Ukrainian scientist WarnedThe environmental risks are likely to be greater than the Chernobyl disaster.
These are not abstract problems. The impact of environmental destruction on the Ukrainian population’s health, food supply, livelihood and well-being is direct. The risks are not only limited to Ukraine. The price of wheat has already risen globally due to disruptions in Ukrainian agriculture. Water pollution also crosses borders. A nuclear catastrophe could have serious international consequences.
It’s understandable that people focus on the direct humanitarian impacts, says Doug Weir, research and policy director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS). However, environmental impacts can also have serious humanitarian consequences.
What can be done?
At the UN Environment Assembly meeting at Nairobi at the end February, 108 civil societies organisations from all over the world highlighted the issues. serious environmental risksThe invasion was a threat and required support to monitor and address it. Separate open letterThe Environmental Peacebuilding Association enjoins the international community to investigate and monitor possible violations of international environmental and rights law, and to hold them accountable.
The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor (ICC) has been established. AnnouncementIt will launch an investigation into crimes committed in Ukraine. The court does theoretically have jurisdiction over the crime that an attacker intentionally launches an attack knowing that it will cause extensive, long-term and serious damage to the environment. However, it has never brought a case.
Rachel Killean, Queens University Belfast’s justice and conflict specialist, said openDemocracy it might be possible to bring a case linking environmental destruction to attacks on civilian property (a war crime), or a widespread and systematic assault on a civilian population. (A crime against humanity). The ICC Previously indicatedIt would be open to such an approach in principle.
Long-term solutions include reforming the ICCs statute so that environmental crimes are explicitly included. This is the goal of the Stop Ecocide campaign.
Domestic action could also be taken. Already, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been occupied. DescribedThe Ukrainian Prosecutor Generals Office as well as the Ukrainian security services were deemed to have committed an ecocide and thus warrant criminal investigation. Along with Russia, Ukraine is one of the few countries that have criminalized ecocide in law.
The life cycle of conflict
CEOBS, the conflict and environment monitor, Weir, places his hopes on a new set of international guidelines to protect the environment in wartime. These guidelines have been in the UN’s hands for more than a decade. They will be up for vote this autumn.
The International Law Commissions PERACProject has been identified so far 28 draft principlesThis book covers topics such as the rights of Indigenous peoples, the use of natural resources, corporate behavior in conflict zones, and the effects war has on marine areas.
Weir sees it as a gradual development of the law protecting environment rather than a game changer. He also points out that much is based on existing international human rights law, which many states have signed up to. It’s a new way of thinking about the whole lifecycle of conflict, he says.
But AnalyseCEOBS shows that there are many powerful states who oppose binding obligations. Many also object to attempts to combine different areas of law. Weir claims that the US and France have been resisting international humanitarian law principles on environment for years. They want nuclear weapons freedom. Canada wants to see all measures that would protect nature during military occupations removed from the guidelines.
Russia did not express any views at this stage. However, it has expressed its views earlier It views the environment as having a lower priority than protecting civilians, and the current legal framework as adequate.
Weir is realistic in his expectations of what these new principles will accomplish. International humanitarian law isn’t particularly effective in protecting civilians involved in conflict. The environment is also of lower priority. However, the environment is also important and should be updated regularly Red Cross guidelinesIf you begin to embed greater environmental awareness and understanding into the militaries [among]Their lawyers, the environment is going be more heavily on their decisions.
While not all countries will accept all the principles, Spain and Portugal, El Salvador, Lebanon, and the Nordic states have strongly supported this process. Weir says that the guidelines should also be used to ensure that the environment is a part of post-conflict reconstruction and recovery.
Environmental protection has seen significant improvements since previous conflicts. The Vietnam War, in which Agent Orange was used for the destruction of forests and crops, saw amendments to the Geneva Convention and the ratification a new Environmental Modification Convention. These are the moments when you can see environmental damage from conflicts, and they are very visible, are the moments that you tend to see policy change. And I think they’ve been pretty visible in the case of Ukraine, Weir says.
This article was published for the first time by openDemocracy and has been republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
