10 Ways War Harms Wildlife

Mar 11, 2022 | John R. Platt
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Here are 10 of the most dangerous ways war affects the animals and plants around us — many of which also harm humans in the process.

War causes scarcity, which furthers social and political conflict, which begets more war. The loss of wildlife can have cascading environmental consequences, ranging from extinctions to outbreaks of disease and invasive species. Opportunistic corporations and criminals use the cover of war to increase their environmentally destructive activities. Conservation funding gets shifted to military and police operations — perhaps permanently. Wartime disruptions to sanitation and medical infrastructure can cause long-term epidemics, while destruction of waste facilities or oil, gas or nuclear operations can poison the landscape for generations.

Those are probably the biggest messages of the 2002 Conservation Biology paper, which should ring true in this time of war two decades later.