Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Armed conflicts are always accompanied by large-scale destruction not only of infrastructure and human potential, but also of the natural environment. Modern practice of conducting military operations shows that the environmental consequences of war can be long-term, transboundary and irreversible. Of particular concern is the lack of appropriate mechanisms for responding to and holding accountable for wartime environmental crimes. The article examines key international legal acts regulating environmental protection during armed conflicts, in particular Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. The practice of the UN International Law Commission on the draft principles for environmental protection during conflicts is also analyzed, as well as the positions of leading scientists on improving legal mechanisms for protecting nature in wartime. Attention is focused on the complexity of the practical application of existing international legal norms, the lack of effective monitoring and gaps in holding accountable for environmental damage. Examples from international practice are also considered, demonstrating the need to strengthen legal protection of the environment during armed conflict. A separate place in the article is devoted to the analysis of the impact of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which has been ongoing since 2014 and has become full-scale since February 2022. Using the example of Ukraine, the real consequences of hostilities for the environment are examined: large-scale fires in contaminated areas, the blowing up of dams, shelling of industrial facilities, chemical leaks, destruction of ecosystems, destruction of protected areas, and a threat to nuclear safety. Ukraine has become one of the first examples in modern history when issues of military ecology are actively documented and recorded at the international level for further legal response. The potential of the concept of ecocide as an international crime, which can become the basis for the formation of a new paradigm of international law in the field of environmental security, is separately analyzed. The conclusions of the article indicate the need to develop a specialized international agreement on environmental protection during armed conflicts, strengthen the role of international institutions in the field of environmental monitoring and adapt existing norms to the challenges of hybrid and protracted wars.
Author: Шашурина, Н. Г.
Institution: International Humanitarian University
Language: English
Subfield: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7034747664
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