Environmental Guidebook on Military Operations
Publisher: DoD Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Network and Information Exchange (DENIX)
Author(s): Hanna Uusitalo, Antti Kivipelto, Sara Kajander, Ava Sovijärvi, Carl-Gustav Ebbhagen, Svante Olsson, Annica Waleij, Birgitta Liljedahl, Åsa Scott Andersson, Timothy Bosetti, homas Schultheis, Susan Clark-Sestak & William Nicholls
Date: 2008
Topics: Monitoring and Evaluation, Programming
This guidebook was developed by a multinational working group consisting of representatives from the defense organizations of Finland, Sweden, and the United States. It reflects a shared commitment to proactively reduce the environmental impacts of military operations, and to protect the health and safety of deployed forces.
Any successful military operation begins with sound planning. This guidebook gives operational planners the necessary tools to incorporate environmental considerations throughout the life cycle of the operation. Failure to integrate environmental considerations into operational- and tactical-level planning increases the risk to the health and safety of military personnel and civilian non-combatants. Inadvertent damage to the natural environment or to significant cultural or historic resources also complicates the attainment of the desired strategic end state through the loss of political capital, negative public image, and increased overall cost.
This document does not necessarily reflect the official policies or doctrine of any nation, but represents the combined knowledge and ideas of contributors with significant experience in this area. This document is intended to serve as an environmental guidebook to help troop contributing nations with environmental management responsibilities identify relevant environmental requirements, practices, standards, and preventive measures, with a goal of integrating them into the planning and execution of military operations in a way that enhances the readiness of the force and accomplishment of the overall mission. It provides overarching principles, guidelines, templates, and examples which may be used by operational planners and deployed forces to achieve the overall environmental goals and objectives associated with a military operation. Within the text, links are provided to directly access additional reference material and applicable templates.