Webinar - Documenting the Impact of Armed Conflicts on the Environment in the Middle East: Filling the Gaps

Recent armed conflicts in the Arab region – in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya - have led to severe environmental damage (both through the destruction of non-human activity and through the targeting of infrastructures critical for civilian wellbeing), while simultaneously making societies less resilient to environmental disasters such as drought or floods and delaying the adoption of needed change to attenuate the damage of climate change.

And yet, very little effort has been expanded to better measure this impact, and more importantly, to include environmental issues as part of a post-conflict recovery strategy. As the destructive health, social and economic effects of climate change and environmental degradation become increasingly clear, there is an urgent need to know how this all intersects with armed conflict.

The webinar will highlight some of the initiatives and efforts to document the impact of armed conflicts on the environment in the Arab region, the challenges these initiatives encounter, and how environmental priorities can be better integrated in post-conflict planning.

Questions that will be addressed by the panelists:

• How has armed conflict impacted the environment, and how is environmental degradation contributing to conflict?
• How can and should humanitarian efforts, reconstruction initiatives, peace building and transitional justice integrate environmental considerations?
• What role can environmental activists play in peace building?