PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT DURING ARMED CONFLICTS: ECONOMIC AND INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ASPECTS
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##
Abstract
The environment is one of the casualties of armed conflict. In the context of military operations, a range of ecological impacts is observed, including but not limited to: human casualties; destruction of infrastructure; pollution of air, land and water resources; and damage to forests and nature reserves. Moreover, as military technologies develop, the situation is only getting worse. Environmental damage also has far-reaching economic consequences. All of this suggests that there is a need for high-quality international legal regulation of environmental protection during armed conflicts. The purpose of this article is twofold: firstly, to analyse the consequences of environmental damage caused by the Russian Federation's aggression for the Ukrainian economy; and secondly, to identify the existing international legal regulation of environmental protection during armed conflict. In addition, the article will propose ways to solve the identified problems. An analysis was conducted on statistical data pertaining to the environmental damage caused by various armed conflicts. The issue of international legal regulation of the assessment of damage caused to the environment during military conflicts was considered. Methodology. In the course of composing the article, the primary focus was on the utilisation of general theoretical methodologies. The analysis and synthesis of existing literature, alongside theoretical generalisation and systematic interpretation, were instrumental in evaluating individual international treaties pertinent to the research topic. Results. The article considered the economic consequences of environmental damage caused by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, as well as the content of international legal regulations on environmental protection during armed conflicts and the practice of implementing them. Practical implications. The authors have identified the main range of problems existing in the sphere of international legal regulation of environmental protection, and proposed the possible ways of their resolving, on the basis of doctrinal provisions, data from reports of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine and the UN, as well as the norms of the current international law. Value/Originality. It has been determined that a significant step in enhancing the international legal regulation of environmental protection during armed conflict is necessary. This step involves the enactment of a separate convention aimed at resolving this issue, as well as the adoption of international standards on environmental damage assessment.
How to Cite
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
international law, international environmental law, environmental damage, assessment of environmental damage, economic consequences
Goldblat, J. (1977). The Environmental Warfare Convention: How Meaningful Is It? Ambio, Vol. 6 (4), p. 216–221.
Gulac, O., Marchenko, O., Kapitanenko, N., Kuris, Y., & Oleksenko, R. (2022). State environmental policy on the issue of legal regulation of fire safety in the forests of Ukraine. Cuestiones Políticas, Vol. 40(74), p. 195–206.
Gulac, O., Oleksenko, R., Kaluha, V., Kravchenko, O., & Yukhymenko, N. (2022). Overcoming the environmental crisis in the forestry sector of Ukraine in the context of the ecocentric paradigm. Revista de la Universidad del Zulia, Vol. 13(38), p. 59–71.
ICJ, Certain Activities Carried Out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua), Compensation, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2018, p. 55.
IMEU (2022). Fact Sheet: Israel’s Environmental Apartheid in Palestine. Available at: https://imeu.org/article/environmental-apartheid-in-palestine
International organization for migration. Pierret Alain, Guillaume Lacombe and Chu Thai Hoanh (2022). Environmental and migratory consequences of the Vietnam War policies. Available at: https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/blogs/environmental-and-migratory-consequences-vietnam-war
Krasnova, Yu. (2017). The law of environmental safety of Ukraine: theoretical aspects. Monograph. Kyiv: NULLES of Ukraine, 589 p.
Lacombe Guillaume, Pierret Alain. (2013). Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin. Ecohydrology, Vol. 6, p. 901–903.
Mareček, L. (2023). Ochrana environmentálnych noriem prostriedkami medzinárodného trestného práva [Protection of Environmental Norms by Means of International Criminal Law]. In: Ružička, O., Ťažká, V.(eds.):Bratislavské právnické fórum 2023: právny štát v medzinárodnom práve a medzinárodné právo v právnom štáte [Bratislava Legal Forum 2023: the Rule of Law in International Law and International Law in the Rule of Law] (pp. 24–40). Bratislava: Právnická fakulta Univerzity Komenského v Bratislave.
Martin A. Mattes, Michael Bothe. (1975). Environmental Policy and Law. Volume 1, Issue 3, December 1975, Pages 136–137.
Ministry of the Environment (2024). More than 2,500 crimes against the environment committed by Russian Federation were recorded in Ukraine. Available at: https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-economy/3776555-v-ukraini-zafiksuvali-ponad-25-tisaci-zlociniv-proti-dovkilla-aki-vcinila-rosia.html
Novak, T., Melnyk, V., Kovalchuk, I., Pakhomova, A., & Nastina, O. (2024). Legal Support for Sustainable Agroecological Development: Evidence from Ukraine. European Journal of Sustainable Development, 13(2), 247. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2024.v13n2p247
Paľuchová, Petra. Protection of animals during armed conflict. In: Current issues of international environmental law: through the lens of public international law and private international law. Bratislava: Comenius University in Bratislava. Faculty of Law, 2024, s. 55–66 [online]. ISBN (online) 978-80-7160-724-3.
Peter H. Sand. (2005). Compensation for Environmental Damage from the 1991 Gulf War. Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 35 No. 6, p. 244–249. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292506890_Compensation_for_environmental_damage_from_the_1991_Gulf_War
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977. Commentary of 1987. Article 55 – Protection of the natural environment. Available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977/article-55/commentary/1987
Richard A. Falks. (1973). Environmental Warfare and Ecocide – Facts, Apprisal, and Proposals. Bulletin of Peace Proposals, Vol. 4, No. 1, p. 80–96.
Ružička, O. International administration of the territory as a means of environmental protection. In: Current issues of international environmental law: through the lens of public international law and private international law. Bratislava: Comenius University in Bratislava. Faculty of Law, 2024, s. 47–53 [online]. ISBN (online) 978-80-7160-724-3.
The Guardian. Ecocide in Gaza’: does scale of environmental destruction amount to a war crime? (2024). Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/29/gaza-israel-palestinian-war-ecocide-environmental-destruction-pollution-rome-statute-war-crimes-aoe
The Post Disaster Needs Assessment report of the Kakhovka Dam Disaster. (2023). Available at: https://ukraine.un.org/en/248860-post-disaster-needs-assessment-report-kakhovka-dam-disaster
UNEP. Damage to Gaza causing new risks to human health and long-term recovery – new UNEP assessment (2024). Available at: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/damage-gaza-causing-new-risks-human-health-and-long-term-recovery
Vashchenko, Y. (2021). Access to Modern Energy Services Through the Prism of Children’s Rights: An Overview from the Perspectives of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Policy and Law Approaches of Certain EU Member States and Ukraine. International Comparative Jurisprudence, Volume 7, Issue 1, p. 75–87. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13165/j.icj.2021.06.006
Yemelianenko, K., Ladychenko, V., Yarynko, B. (2024). International legal and national mechanisms for overcoming the environmental consequences of the armed aggression of the Russian federation against Ukraine. Law of Ukraine, Vol. 10 (1), p. 151–165.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.