Credit: Elliot Plack/Flickr
Based on the Council on Foreign Relations’s Global Conflict Tracker data states that there are 32 ongoing conflicts on the world scale right now. A massive war that is happening right now tempts to bring lots of damage to urban planning and significant loss of life. War can bring lots of changes to an individual life. Sometimes, we also forget that war can have a significant impact on the environment.
Same as how war itself can destroy a human life, it also can ruin ecosystems and destroy natural landscapes. More to the environment and long-lasting ecological damage also can lead to severe pollution, deforestation, and creating hazardous conditions for humans and the environment itself. Here are the interesting facts about how war could affect the environment:
War can cause a Habitat Loss
War can significantly destroy habitats and reduce biodiversity that is located in the areas of the war. The natural environment, such as the land, air, water, plants , and animals, is related to creating a balanced ecosystem. Those natural landscapes can be affected by the crushing of plants and animals, the churning of soil, and even the erosion that is caused by forest logging. In some areas, war can affect the resources of environmental stability such as water resources, which can also affect human life!
War are using lots of amount of fossil fuels
A war requires a lot of logistical preparations that not only endanger life but also require military equipment that needs lots of energy. It often relies on vehicles, aircraft, and ships that are powered by enormous amounts of fossils and other unrenewable energy. This could affect a long-term war, a repetitive demand for extensive fuel usage, and further depletion of natural resources. On the other hand, heavy and intensive military equipment requires an energy intensive process during the production itself and is also powered by un-environmentally-friendly fossil fuels.
Warfare releases an extreme amount of greenhouse emissions
The main “actor” that causes the greenhouse emissions during the war is the usage of fuels. For example, the oil fire that happened during the 1991 Gulf War is estimated to contribute around 2% of global CO2 emissions. Also, a war can reduce the number of vegetation and increase the pollutants that are produced by the war itself.
To sum it up, a war could bring harm to not only humans, but also give long lasting effects and irreversible damages to the environment.
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