The Environmental Consequences of War Legal, Economic, and Scientific Perspectives

Interdisciplinary analysis of the implications of wartime damage to the natural environment and public health.

The environmental devastation caused by military conflict has been witnessed in the wake of the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Kosovo conflict. This book brings together leading international lawyers, military officers, scientists and economists to examine the legal, political, economic and scientific implications of wartime damage to the natural environment and public health. The book considers issues raised by the application of humanitarian norms and legal rules designed to protect the environment, and the destructive nature of war. Contributors offer an analysis and critique of the existing law of war framework, lessons from peacetime environmental law, means of scientific assessment and economic valuation of ecological and public health damage, and proposals for future legal and institutional developments. This book provides a contemporary forum for interdisciplinary analysis of armed conflict and the environment, and explores ways to prevent and redress wartime environmental damage.

List of illustrations; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Foreword Klaus Toepfer; Introduction Jay E. Austin and Carl E. Bruch; Part I. General Principles: Introduction Carl E. Bruch; 1. The environment in wartime: an overview Christopher D. Stone; Part II. The Legal Framework; Section 1. Existing and Emerging Wartime Standards: Introduction Carl E. Bruch; 2. The law of war and environmental damage Adam Roberts; 3. War and the environment: fault lines in the prescriptive landscape Michael N. Schmitt; 4. The inadequacy of the existing legal approach to environmental protection in wartime Richard Falk; 5. United States Navy development of operational-environmental doctrine Captain John P. Quinn, Captain Richard T. Evans and Lt. Commander Michael J. Boock; 6. In furtherance of environmental guidelines for armed forces during peace and war Arthur H. Westing; Section 2. Lessons from Other Legal Regimes: Introduction Jay E. Austin; 7. Peacetime environmental law as a basis of state responsibility for environmental damage caused by war Silja Vöneky; 8. Environmental damages under the Law of the Sea Convention Thomas A. Mensah; 9. The place of the environment in international tribunals David D. Caron; 10. Civil liability for war-caused environmental damage: models from United States law Jeffrey G. Miller; Part III. Assessing the Impacts - Scientific Methods and Issues; Section 1. Ecological and Natural Resource Impacts: Introduction Jessica D. Jacoby; 11. Scientific assessment of the long-term environmental consequences of war Asit K. Biswas; 12. The Gulf War impact on the terrestrial environment of Kuwait: an overview Samira A. S. Omar, Ernest Briskey, Raafat Misak and Adel A. S. O. Asem; 13. War-related damages to the marine environment in the ROPME Sea Area Mahmood Y. Abdulraheem; 14. War and biodiversity: an assessment of impacts Jeffrey A. McNeely; Section 2. Public Health Impacts: Introduction Jessica D. Jacoby; 15. Tracking the four horsemen: the public health approach to the impact of war and war-induced environmental destruction in the twentieth century Jennifer Leaning; 16. Defoliants: the long-term health implications Alastair W. M. Hay; 17. The impact of military preparedness and militarism on health and the environment Victor W. Sidel; 18. War and infectious diseases: international law and the public health consequences of armed conflict David P. Fidler; Part IV. Valuing the Impacts - Economic Methods and Issues: Introduction Eric Feldman; Section 1. Ecological and Natural Resource Damages: 19. Restoration-based approaches to compensation for natural resource damages: moving towards convergence in US and international law Carol A. Jones; Section 2. Public Health Damages: 20. Valuing public health damages arising from war Mark Dickie and Shelby Gerking; 21. Valuing the health consequences of war W. Kip Viscusi; Part V. Prospects for the Future: Introduction Jay E. Austin; 22. Protecting specially important areas during international armed conflict: a critique of the IUCN Draft Convention on the Prohibition of Hostile Military Activities in Protected Areas Richard G. Tarasofsky; 23. The Chemical Weapons Convention: a verification and enforcement model for determining legal responsibility for environmental harm caused by war Barry Kellman; 24. International legal mechanisms for determining liability for environmental damage under international humanitarian law Jean-Marie Henckaerts; 25. Waging war against the world: the need to move from war crimes to environmental crimes Mark A. Drumbl; Epilogue Carl E. Bruch and Jay E. Austin; Index.

This book brings together leading international lawyers, military officers, scientists and economists to examine the legal, political, economic and scientific implications of wartime damage to the natural environment and public health. The book considers issues raised by the application of humanitarian norms and legal rules designed to protect the environment, and the destructive nature of war.