International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict is an international day celebrated across the world on November 6. The aim behind the day is to minimize the negative impacts on the environment during the war and armed conflict. Humanity has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war. Water wells have been polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed to gain military advantage, the day is celebrated to raise awareness about these impacts.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that over the last 60 years, at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources, whether high-value resources such as timber, diamonds, gold and oil, or scarce resources such as fertile land and water. Conflicts involving natural resources have also been found to be twice as likely to relapse.
The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peace-building strategies, because there can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.
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Int’l day for preventing of war and armed conflict 2021: History
On 5 November 2001, the UN General Assembly declared 6 November of each year as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, under the resolution A/RES/56/4.
On 27 May 2016, the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted resolution UNEP/EA.2/Res.15, which recognized the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals listed in General Assembly resolution 70/1, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
Int’l day for preventing of war and armed conflict 2021: Partnership
- EU-UN Partnership on Land and Natural Resource Conflicts
- Global Research Programme on Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and Natural Resources
- UN Partnership on Women and Natural Resources in Peace-building Settings