On 5 November 2001, the UN General Assembly declared 6 November as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
In the words of António Guterres. U N Secretary General, “We need to act boldly and urgently to reduce the risks that environmental degradation and climate change present for conflict and commit to protecting our planet from the debilitating effects of war…We must use all of the tools at our disposal, from dialogue and mediation to preventive diplomacy to keep the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources from fueling and financing armed conflict and destabilizing the fragile foundations of peace.”
War is destruction. It destroys human lives. It equally destroys nature, natural resources and environment. Rockets, bombs, artillery and above all nuclear and chemical weapons are used by warring factions to boost their nationalistic arrogance and to arrive at their selfish purpose.
Forests are incinerated, standing vegetation is chemically fumigated with poison, rivers, oceans and water sources are polluted, air is turned foul, weather becomes unhealthy and atmosphere becomes suffocated.
War mongering groups and nations and weapons-pushing/selling nations are the culprits. The first World War, the Second World War with its infamous Hiroshima, Nagasaki nuclear bombings, the US President John F. Kennedy-sponsored Vietnam war, the Afghan War, Iraq war, Ukraine war, Middle east crisis between Palestine and Israel -all these are nerve chilling exercises by world nations after burying their conscience.
John F Kennedy, projecting the US as the world saviour against communism, declared war in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, known as the second Indo-China War that extended from 1955 to 1975. Unable to contain or defeat the Viet Cong Guerillas, Kennedy and his war room advisors devised Operation Ranch Hand, ‘a hellish operation’. It was meant to resort to aerial spray of chemical herbicides on forests and all standing vegetation. The hidden sinister agenda was to defoliate forest cover to ferret out the ‘enemy’ and to create a situation of drought and famine and thereby cause the general population to rush to the US sponsored refugee camps for food and accommodation. The preposterous idea of controlling their behaviour and to prevent them from joining the fighting Viet Cong army and guerillas!
Reports say, from 1962 to 1971, U.S. Air Force sprayed about an estimated 47.3 million liters of herbicide over 4.5 million acres of land and forest covering 30 provinces. The most infamous of these was Agent Orange “composed of dichloro-phenoxy acetic acid, trichlorophenoxy acetic acid and contains traces of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD).” These poisonous chemicals are known to disrupt endocrine system, cause diabetes, birth defects and cancers.
In addition to Agent Orange, other herbicides used were Agent Pink Agent Green, Agent Purple, Agent White and Agent Blue.
The hellish ‘Operation’ resulted in tens of thousands of children being born with birth defects, millions suffering from cerebral palsy, physical and intellectual disabilities, missing or deformed limbs, which all passed from one generation to the next for long.
The world knows that, within a few months after the Hiroshima Nagasaki bombings in 1945, between 90,000 to 1,66,000 people died in Hiroshima, and 60,000 to 80,000 people died in Nagasaki. People suffered, in later years, from birth defects, cancers and many complicated ailments. 90 percent of the cities lay in ruins. The fireballs created by the bombs raised temperatures over 4,000-degree Fahrenheit. Trees and vegetation caught fire. The shockwaves levelled buildings. The radiation from the explosion caused drastic change in climate and environment. Radio-active materials from the bombs contaminated food supplies and water sources, and caused mutation in plans and vegetation.
So, wars are a dangerous proposition. For about a month now, Palestine is reeling under the bombs and artillery of Israel that has vowed to take the war to the fish. Thousands of innocent people are killed, half of them women and children. Even refugee tents are not spared by the attacker.
In addition, we can understand what harm is done to nature, and environment by this Middle East crisis. Every bomb, every rocket, every artillery is made of chemicals. When they explode, smoke, dust, and poisonous substances pollute environment, food and water sources.
The maniacal operations of war should be brought to a halt. Otherwise, humans, all other beings and our planet itself, are in danger of slow extinction. Once extinct, nobody will be there for “dialogue, mediation, and preventive diplomacy” or for claiming victory!
