The International Day for the Prevention of the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict reminds us that conflict and the environment are deeply linked. Around the world, at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts are linked to the exploitation of natural resources, whether high value resources such as wood, diamonds, gold and oil, or scarce resources such as fertile land and water. It has also been found that conflict over natural resources will be twice as likely to return.
Rising temperatures due to climate change are now threatening to further intensify tensions and tensions in the environment. And too often, the environment is one of the victims of war through deliberate acts of destruction or collateral damage, or because governments do not control and manage natural resources.
The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding strategies, as there can be no lasting peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.