6 November – Warning of the consequences war has on the environment, United Nations officials today urged the international community to limit intentional destruction of the natural surroundings during armed conflict.
"While environmental damage is a common consequence of war, it should never be a deliberate aim," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message marking the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
Although international conventions govern nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, new technologies – such as depleted uranium ammunition – threaten the environment, Mr. Annan added. Meanwhile damage to the environment in war also becomes an impediment to restoring peace and rebuilding of society.
For his part, the President of the General Assembly, Jan Kavan of the Czech Republic, called for the protection of resources such as timber, minerals, water, fish and ivory, which are vulnerable to illegal exploitation in conflict situations.
Mr. Kavan also called attention to long-term damage that could be caused by weapons of mass destruction. "Their interaction with living forms threatens to alter the very basis of life as we know it today through mutations or destruction of the genome code," he said.
"While environmental damage is a common consequence of war, it should never be a deliberate aim," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message marking the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
Although international conventions govern nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, new technologies – such as depleted uranium ammunition – threaten the environment, Mr. Annan added. Meanwhile damage to the environment in war also becomes an impediment to restoring peace and rebuilding of society.
For his part, the President of the General Assembly, Jan Kavan of the Czech Republic, called for the protection of resources such as timber, minerals, water, fish and ivory, which are vulnerable to illegal exploitation in conflict situations.
Mr. Kavan also called attention to long-term damage that could be caused by weapons of mass destruction. "Their interaction with living forms threatens to alter the very basis of life as we know it today through mutations or destruction of the genome code," he said.