By JO1 Gawlowicz (DN-ST-92-00823) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Mankind has been at war since the beginning of time and losses are usually counted in the form of casualties, the number of wounded soldiers, the rise and fall of cities, and more. However, one silent victim in almost every act of war has been the environment. Whether the damage done is merely a casualty of war or intentionally inflicted to gain the upper hand against an opponent, the environment has suffered countless attacks.

Forests have been cut down, crop fields have been raided, soil bountiful with nutrients has been poisoned, and cattle have been slaughtered all in the name of war. As a result, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 6 to be the “International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.”

According to the United Nations Environment Program, as much as 40% of all conflict over the last 60 years has been the result of exploitation of the environment. These acts of exploitation include conflicts over precious metals, diamonds, and scarce resources such as land and water. Furthermore, such conflicts have a higher rate of relapsing and the United Nations wants to include the environment as part of their conflict prevention and peacekeeping strategies.

The Environment Law Institute (ELI) and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) have launched a website to help raise awareness for this monumental day and to provide information about the role that natural resources play in peacebuilding.

For more information on the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), please visit them at http://www.unep.org/.

To find out more about the United Nations Peacekeeping efforts, please visit http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/issues/environment/, and http://www.eli.org/ for information about the Environment Law Institute.