The Agonizing Narrative of Environmental Dilapidation in the tussle of Armed Conflict; from the Lens of International Humanitarian Laws

Abstract

It is reasonable that humans have long recorded war fatalities in terms of injuries, death of combatants and civilians, the devastation of cities, and lost livelihoods; we fail to consider the environment, yet, we cannot disregard this issue. The study focuses on how war fuelled catastrophic environmental proceedings have continued to contamination of land, destruction of forests, plunder natural resources, and climate change, forcing the mass displacement of populations within and across borders and creating threats to human health; accordingly, these threats include the direct and indirect consequences of war and conflict such as a lack of clean air, water, nutrition, and housing, increased exposure to infectious diseases, and psychological trauma. The United Nations already tries to reduce the destruction from warfare through international laws called the Fourth Geneva Convention. However, this law has not stopped the degradation of the environment during the war. There is a need for a new set of rules that protect human health and the environment during armed conflict. In this study, the current study engaged in the debate and contextualises it with the research related to the war and environment to offer a better explanation than what already exists and, on its subtext, what the social renovation model needs to bear to stand the test of time and challenges. This research is a normative legal study in which part of the literature will be reviewed to acquire the necessary data using normative approaches. This study will collect and use secondary data from primary, secondary, and legal documents.

Keywords: Environmental Degradation, Climate Change, Devastation, Green-House Gases, War, Armed Conflict