Guest post by Emily Nimmo who is an Undergraduate Student at the University of Ottawa and completed an extracurricular volunteer placement as a Research Assistant at Mines Action Canada.

The negative effects that explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA) have on civilians is widely talked about in the disarmament community, but explosive weapons also cause issues to our environment. The purpose of this article is to highlight the negative environmental impact that explosive weapons have. Environmental degradation caused by EWIPA manifests in a multitude of ways, as environmental issues disproportionately affect different groups of people. This article will work to explain why protecting the environment is a necessary aspect of disarmament, as protecting the environment is synonymous with protecting civilians.  

While the effects that EWIPA has on civilians is discussed in the media, there is a lack of research on the indirect effects that civilians face from environmental degradation due to EWIPA. This is devastating, because explosive weapons have the ability to completely dismantle the landscape they are dropped in. Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) published articles in 2020 that highlighted just how serious the effects of explosive weapons on the environment really are. Another aspect of environmental harm caused by explosive weapons is the abundance of Unexploded Explosive Ordnance (UXO). According to AOAV, UXO contamination can last decades, and is common because modern weapons have a fail rate of 5%. UXOs are harmful to the environment because they contain many harmful elements including lead, antimony, uranium, dinitrotoluene, and trinitrotoluene (TNT). All of these chemicals can have toxic environmental effects, but also harm humans who are exposed to them.  

When explosive weapons are dropped in populated areas, they destroy the infrastructure within the area. In October 2024, the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) released an article explaining the environmental issues associated with the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. From October 7, 2022, the day the current war started in Gaza, to October of 2023, the use of explosive weapons generated over 42 million tonnes of debris and internally displaced about 2 million people. This debris comes from the exploding of infrastructure in the region and is contaminated with asbestos and other polluting materials. These pollutants are being inhaled by civilians in the area, which is detrimental to human health. The war in Gaza is still ongoing, which means that these numbers have been rising. This pollution will take decades of continuous work to clear, and this process will also release approximately 80,000 tonnes of CO2. Furthermore, water, sanitation and hygiene stations in Gaza have been heavily targeted. This has caused raw sewage to be discarded into the Mediterranean, which has caused the rising crisis of waterborne diseases, especially in children. This will contribute further to the scarcity of clean water in the region.  

These environmental issues do not only exist in Gaza - Ukraine has also suffered severe environmental degradation due to EWIPA, especially since the current war started in February 2022. Since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine began, much of the conflict has been fought in heavily industrialized areas. Industrialized areas containing garages, fuel storage units, and utility infrastructure have been targeted by explosive weapons, which has resulted in many contaminants such as toxic and hazardous chemicals being put into the environment. These contaminants can be airborne or seep into water and soil in the region. This can have both direct and indirect effects on human health, as exposure to these contaminants is very harmful. The targeting of key infrastructure has also caused severe environmental harm such as the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant which led to widespread flooding.     

It is vital to point out both the direct and indirect effects that EWIPA has on the environment, as both of these effects are detrimental to our society. Direct side effects include the instant debris that litters the earth after explosive weapons are used. There are health risks associated with this because toxic materials are found in the building materials that are released after the detonation of explosive weapons. Indirect effects of EWIPA mean the long-term, more invisible side effects that are caused by the use of explosive weapons. For example, debris from explosive weapons can get into medical and household waste, which creates health risks for those that are exposed to these materials. It is evident that the direct and indirect environmental effects of EWIPA will disproportionately affect civilians living in the areas where explosive weapons are being dropped, because these civilians do not have a different option; explosive weapons are destroying societies, and it is very difficult to fix the environmental issues that arise from EWIPA.  

Protecting civilians from the environmental impacts of EWIPA should be at the forefront of conflict-related environmental harm reduction. There must be more of a spotlight on environmental protection at the international level when it comes to mitigating conflict. There are some UN documents that exist in efforts to protect the environment during conflict, such as the UN Security Council’s resolution 2417 and resolution 2573, which are aimed to protect food systems and civilian critical infrastructure. In recent years, there has been more of an emphasis on speaking up about conflict-related environmental issues that affect civilians, such as the UN Special Rapporteurs on Human Rights and Toxics. The issue is, however, that even though these international norms and initiatives exist, they are difficult to implement and it is difficult to hold other states accountable when they breach international laws during conflict.  

At the domestic level, Canada says that they integrate climate change as a core value of its national security. Canada hosts the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence. This is a step in the right direction, as it is designed for military actors and civilians to develop and share knowledge on climate change and security. There have not yet been any tangible results, but bringing awareness to the topic is a very important first step. At Mines Action Canada, we encourage readers to contact your MPs about this topic. Furthermore, if your interests lay anywhere between conflict and the environment, we encourage you to include how conflict/EWIPA affects the environment in your work and advocacy to further educate those around you. If you are interested in this topic, please contact us as we can answer further questions, connect you with experts, and/or start a volunteer project. Do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] if you are interested in this cross-cutting issue!