The book rethinks the means of harmonization of prima facie norm conflicts in light of the multitude of international agreements across regimes. The methodology deployed in this book, which is referred to as complementation or complementary application, represents a novel approach by focusing on commonly shared objectives and a unifying ordre public transnational across fields of public international law that allow for a harmonization beyond traditional treaty interpretation. Fields of public international law, mainly the laws of armed conflict, international environmental law, and human rights law, apply simultaneously to questions regarding the environment and war. Such a coexistence challenges the unity of the international legal order, and it also challenges the means of harmonization across fields of public international law. However, eventually, the co-existence of several fields of public international law can result in a refinement of international law and enhanced legal protection. Diversification can also contribute to clarification or normative intensification in areas of parallel application of various fields and multilayered legal protection, demonstrating a counter-option to fragmentation.

Armed conflict and military activities have serious adverse impacts on the environment. Modern weaponry, troop movements, landmines, hazardous military waste, and the destruction of forests for military use are a few sources of harm to the environment both during armed conflict and peacetime military activities. Ecological assaults in combat areas are often kept a secret by the government, resulting in even greater humanitarian and environmental harm. Environmental degradation is increasingly being recognized as one of the most significant challenges of the 21st century and its effects are being felt worldwide. Both domestic and international legislations have been inadequate in mitigating the impact of military activities. This book provides details of the environmental destruction wreaked during international and non-international armed conflicts and argues that the existing legal regime for the protection of the environment during armed conflict requires substantial modification. It puts forward the view that though it is inconceivable to impose an absolute ban on environmental damage during military operations, strengthening and clarifying the existing laws protecting the environment in times of conflict, and enforcing environment-friendly practices among military forces could go a long way in protecting natural assets of our earth.

This report inventories and analyses the range of international laws that protect the environment during armed conflict. With a view to identifying the current gaps and weaknesses in this system, the authors examine the relevant provisions within four bodies of international law - environmental humanitarian (IHL), international criminal law (ICL), international environmental law (IEL), and international human rights law (HRL). The report concludes with twelve concrete recommendations on ways to strengthen this legal framework and its enforcement. The Environment and Natural Resources are crucial for building and consolidating peace, it is urgent that their protection in times of armed conflict be strengthened. There can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods are damaged or destroyed. This report provides a basis upon which Member States can draw upon to clarify, expand and enforce international law on environmental protection in times of war.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Environmental protection is fundamental for the establishment of sustainable peace. Applying traditional legal approaches to protection raises particular challenges during the transition from conflict to peace. In the jus post bellum context, protection of the environment and natural resources needs to be considered in tandem with a broad range of simultaneously applicable normative frameworks, such as human rights, transitional justice, arms control/disarmament, UN law and practice, development, and domestic law. While certain multilateral environment agreements, such as the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage protect the environment; international humanitarian law and international criminal law continue to treat environmental protection largely from an anthropocentric perspective. This book is the first targeted work in the legal literature that investigates environmental challenges in the aftermath of conflict. Addressing these challenges, it brings together academics, policy-makers, and practitioners from different disciplines to clarify policies and practices of environmental protection and key normative frameworks. It draws on experiences and practices in post-conflict settings to specify substantive principles and techniques to remedy and prevent harm.

'Environmental Protection, Security and Armed Conflict is a timely reminder of the need to integrate sustainable development into key areas of international law, including all phases of armed conflict. Onita Das cleverly picks her way through the applicable law and derives solid suggestions for the future.' – Karen Hulme, University of Essex, UK This book explores environmental protection relevant to security and armed conflict from a sustainable development perspective. The author details how at each stage of the armed conflict life cycle, policy, law and enforcement have fallen short of the sustainable development model and concludes with a set of suggestions for how to address this pressing concern. The book considers and discusses: • Environmental protection relevant to security and armed conflict from a holistically sustainable development perspective. • Environmental protection relevant to security and armed conflict in the life cycle of armed conflict: pre-conflict, in-conflict and post-conflict • Uses substantive sustainable development principles (duty of states to ensure sustainable use of natural resources; equity and the eradication of poverty; common but differentiated responsibilities; precautionary principle; public participation; good governance; integration and interrelationship; and polluter pays principle) as tools or objectives to achieve sustainable development in the context of environmental protection relevant to security and armed conflict. • The concept of sustainable development is utilized to fill the gaps left by policy and law in the field of environmental protection relevant to security and armed conflict. The book also examines 5 case-studies relating to Somalia, Darfur, Sudan, Sierra Leone, the First Gulf war and the Kosovo conflict. This fascinating and detailed study will strongly appeal to academics and postgraduate students in the fields of both environmental protection and international law, researchers, policy-makers, NGOs and individuals working in the field.

This book analyses the issues surrounding the protection of the environment in times of armed conflict, and to pose questions as to its adequacy and efficacy. But the focus is not simply upon the interpretation of the legal provisions in isolation; instead, the analysis establishes a benchmark standard of environmental harm against which the adequacy and efficacy of the legal provisions can be measured.

The end of the Cold War has opened up the arena for increased attention to other lines of conflict, both in Europe and globally. Environmental disruption - by no means a new phenomenon - is a chief beneficiary of the shift in priorities in the public debate. The Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division of NATO has moved with the times and has defined environmental security as one of the priority areas for its cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union. Research on these issues is now thus very much a collaborative effort across former lines of division in Europe. The Introduction by Sverre Stub sets the tone: Our Future - Common, or None at All. The book reveals the very real risks associated with environmental degradation, whether of the land, waters or the oceans, and charts out previous disputes and points to the very real danger of violent conflict associated with the drying up of natural resources. The book ends with a section on Responses, which seeks to provide answers to the threats discussed in the preceding sections.

This timely study examines how the environmental impact of modern warfare violates fundamental principles of international environmental and humanitarian laws and why these consideration need to be included in rules of armed conflict. If direct attacks on innocent civilians are universally recognized as unacceptable then environ-mental devastation of their habitat by acts of war must also be recognized as an unacceptable consequence of armed conflict. The author presents the case that the international community understand its responsibility to curb environ-mental consequences of modern weaponry and incorporate environmental concerns into the conventions regulating armed conflict. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

The past two decades have witnessed the emergence of a large body of research examining the linkage between environmental scarcity, violent conflict, and cooperation. However, this environmental security polemic is still trying to deliver a well-defined approach to achieving peace. Studies are being undertaken to find the precise pathways by which cooperative actions are expected not only to pre-empt or moderate resource conflicts but also to help diffuse cooperative behaviour to other disputed issues. The recognition that environmental resources can contribute to violent conflict accentuates their potential significance as pathways for cooperation and the consolidation of peace in post-conflict societies. Conceived as a single and reliable reference source which will be a vital resource for students, researchers, and policy makers alike, the Routledge Handbook of Environmental Conflict and Peacebuilding presents a wide range of chapters written by key thinkers in the field, organised into four key parts: Part I: Review of the concept and theories; Part II: Review of thematic approaches (resources, scarcity, intervention, adaptation, and peacebuilding); Part III: Case studies (Middle East, Iraq, Jordan, Liberia, Nepal, Colombia, Philippines); Part IV: Analytical challenges and future-oriented perspectives. Enabling the reader to find a concise expert review on topics that are most likely to arise in the course of conducting research or policy making, this volume presents a truly global overview of the key issues and debates in environmental conflict and peacebuilding.