The Environmental Dimensions of the ‘War on
Terror’
Web version of Notes for a Lecture for CCE seminar ‘The War on Terror’,
Sussex University on 5th July, 2003 by Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR
Structure
of lecture:
Environmental
roots of conflict
Direct
environmental impacts
-
Eg 1991 Gulf war
- Damage to infrastructure allowed disease and ill-health to spread
- tens of thousands of Iraqi's died of the health effects of the war
- Damage to water purification facilities (and related electricity supplies)
caused major shortages of clean water
- Chemical/ biological/ nuclear weapons plants bombed - toxic/ radioactive
releases may be a cause of Gulf War syndrome
- Damage to sewerage plants caused serious pollution
- Oil well fires - more than 600 wells set ablaze, some burning for
9 months - smoke blocked sun - temperature fell by 10C; approx 1000
people died due to acrid smoke; 300 million tonnes CO2 released contributing
to Climate Change
- Oil polluted groundwater - 60 million barrels leaked into ground poisoning
40% of groundwater (Kuwait has less water per head than any other country)
- Oil spills into sea - at least 6 million barrels of oil leaked into
sea causing largest ever oil slick - devastated local bird, mammal,
fish populations - prawn fisheries decimated
- Landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO), eg cluster bombs -
1.6 million landmines laid by Iraqi forces in Kuwait; approx 5% of bombs
do not explode on impact (higher % in desert) - many people killed/
injuries
- Depleted Uranium (DU) - super-dense metal used in armour piercing
weapons - approx 290 tonnes spread across Gulf - source of low-level
radioactivity and toxicity
- Damage to desert ecology - obvious bomb damage, but also movements
of armoured vehicles broke up fragile soil surface - approx 50% of Kuwait's
land area damaged
- References: UNEP, 2003; Additional info from: New Scientist, 2003;
FOE 2003; Medact, 2002
- 2003 Iraq war - preliminary assessment made in UNEP 'desk study' (UNEP,
2003)
- Damage to water purification (and related electricity supplies) leading
to major shortages of clean water
- Damage to sewerage plants and lack of waste collection leading to
increased disease risk
- Oil fires - only 9 wells set ablaze, but many oil-filled trenches
around Baghdad (trying to fool incoming missiles) - causing high levels
of air pollution in local area, and groundwater contamination
- Water desalination systems damaged, causing salt water damage to fields
- Chemical plants again targets - causing toxic releases
- UXO (including cluster bombs), DU again used by Allied forces (US
has refused to accept DU is problem and hence won't assist in clean
up)
- Further damage to local ecology, especially southern wetlands - internationally
important wintering area for hundreds of thousands of birds
- Afghan war (New Scientist, 2002)
- Many similar issues to Iraq
- Since end of war, major deforestation by refugees for fuelwood; migratory
birds down by 85%; rare species (eg snow leopard) killed for valuable
fur etc
Indirect
environmental impacts
- Iraq/ Afghanistan wars allow continued reliance on oil, accelerating Climate
Change
- oil sources are now more secure, and oil production can now be expanded
(oil production in Iraq is among the cheapest in the world, at 25% of
North Sea oil costs) - these factors will help bring down oil prices
and encourage higher global consumption
- the US Energy Information Agency forecasts world oil consumption will
rise by between 37% and 90% by 2020 - victory in Iraq will mean the
increase in consumption will be towards the higher end of this estimate
- the US already produces 25% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions
(the gas which contributes most to Climate Change), while its population
is only 3% of world
- Reference: Friends of the Earth, 2003
- Maintaining very large armed forces
- consumes high levels of natural resources (eg oil for fuel - world's
armed forces consume as much petrol as the whole of Japan, and 1/4 of
world's aviation fuel)
- produces high levels of hazardous waste (US Dept of Defense generates
more than 5 largest chemical companies combined)
- Reference: The Ecologist, 2003
Tackling the environmental
causes of conflict
-
Annual world military spending
is nearly $800,000,000,000 - US budget alone is nearly 50% of this (approx
$400bn); UK budget is approx $40bn (£25bn)
- Spending some of this money on environmental and social issues could prevent
many conflicts, eg clean water (6000 children die every day from
lack of clean water/ poor sanitation), renewable energy (eg solar, wind)
would reduce dependence on oil, sustainable agricultural practices would
prevent soil erosion/ deforestation and hence provide food security.
- Extra cost of universal education, halving poverty and cutting child deaths
by three quarters is estimated at $25bn per year (UNICEF, as quoted in Independent
21/05/03)
References
The Ecologist (2003)
War on the environment. Vol. 33, no. 4, p44-45. May. http://www.theecologist.org/
Friends of the Earth
(2003) War in Iraq: why Friends of the Earth is opposed. February, 13th.
http://www.foe.co.uk/
Medact (2002) Collateral
Damage: the health and environmental costs of war on Iraq. http://www.medact.org/
New Scientist (2002)
Afghanistan faces an environmental crisis. January. http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991733
New Scientist (2003)
Future looks bleak for Iraq's fragile environment. March 15th, p12-13.
UNEP (2003) Desk
study on the environment in Iraq. United Nations Environment Programme. April.
http://postconflict.unep.ch/
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