Of Pine Trees & Payloads: Environmental Damage during an Armed Conflict

Aug 19, 2019 | Sonia Ahmad
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Following the recent armed stand-off between two nuclear-armed states with a combined population of 1.5 billion people earlier this year, the felling of 15 pine trees might seem the least of anyone’s problems. Not so for the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, Mr. Malik Amin Aslam. Presenting a National Statement on behalf of Pakistan at the Fourth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi in March, the Advisor raised the issue of environmental damage caused by India’s military action to the Massar Jabba Forest Reserve in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before ministers representing 170 UN member states.