Can International Law Protect the Environment in Armed Conflict? [Video]
Publisher: International Institute for Strategic Studies
Date: 2020
Topics: Governance
Countries: Yemen
Dr Cordula Droege, Jonathan Somer, Stavros-Evdokimos Pantazopoulos and Dr Eleanor Beevor discuss how international law might be able to protect the environment in the increasingly complicated landscape of armed conflict. The laws governing both the environment and the conduct of war have come a long way in recent decades. However, the intersection between the two is an enduring weakness, despite the damage that armed conflict is known to wreak on the natural environment. Complicating the picture is the fact that most conflicts today are not fought between states alone, but with non-state armed actors for whom most of these laws were not designed. Can international law rise to these challenges, and can it shape how armed actors conduct war? This is the inaugural event in The Climate Briefing series presented by the IISS Conflict, Security and Development Programme.