PURPOSE: The United Nations General Assembly by the Resolution A/RES/56/4 declared 6 November as International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. It is estimated that nearly 1.5 Billion people, which is estimated 20% of the World Population living in conflict affected areas and fragile states. These areas include Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine and Colombia led to extreme loss of natural resources. In Afghanistan deforestation is at peak as 95% forest is vanished in some areas. In 2017, toxic chemical clouds were observed in the Mousal city instate of Iraq which affected the landscape and people. major hotspots of biodiversity was found removed in Colombia and Congo which have provided space for refugees and other extremist groups. Due to the conflicting zones, it has caused illegal logging, massive poaching, and breeding grounds for invasive species and also unregulated mining. In Congo, the population of elephants have been distributed. In Yemen and Gaza, water infrastructure including pump stations groundwater usage network and desalinations plant have badly damaged due to horrors of wars and causing environmental and public health risks. The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding strategies, because there can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.

FORUM: “Protecting the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems is essential for lasting peace.’’ International Day for preventing the protection of the environment in war and conflicts 2024. The international community need to act urgently and actively to address the isues of environmental degradation during armed conflicts, if these issues are ignored, we all have to face severe consequences not for ourselves but also for upcoming generations. For the implementation of agenda 2030 Sustainable Development we need to integrate natural resources and environmental issues into planning and conflict assessment. There is dire need to place a mechanism for collecting, monitoring and sharing information of the potential environmental impacts and protect natural resources in armed conflicts. it is needed to show commitment towards protection of our planet from devastating  effects of war and in the times when the planet is warming up. Protecting the Natural environment is integral to Conflicts prevention, peacebuilding and sustainable development.. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #EnvironmentalProtection, #EnvironmentconflictDay, #6november.

EVENTS: On November 6th, at United Nations Headquarters in New york;The UNEP, the UNDP, the UN-HABITAT, the PBSO, the DPA and the UNDESA will organize a webinar to observe the International Day for preventing the protection of the environment in war and conflicts 2024.The topics of the discussions will showcase how to use all of the tools at our disposal, from dialogue and mediation to preventive diplomacy, to keep the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources from fueling and financing armed conflict and destabilizing the fragile foundations of peace.

From 13:15 to 14:30, Conference Room 6, a side-event entitled ‘‘Environmental Security in War and Armed Conflict’’ will be co-organized by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN, the Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN, the Permanent Mission of Bulgaria to the UN Permanent Mission of Germany to the UN, the World Information Transfer, and the Ukrainian Peace Council PAX. Get the agenda programme!

PUBLICATIONS: Comprised of three volumes, the Law of Environmental Protection guides you through the fragmented and conflicting environmental protection laws and regulations put into effect in recent years. For nearly four decades, The Law of Environmental Protection has served private, public, nonprofit, and academic practitioners, scholars, educators, students, and more as an invaluable resource on environmental law in the United States. Read the publication!

The role of fair and equitable benefit-sharing in environmental peacebuilding. Attention will focus on how fair and equitable benefit-sharing can contribute to sustainable and inclusive approaches to the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources by supporting consideration of the human rights of indigenous peoples, the rights to culture and food of local communities, and the human rights of rural women, as part of peacebuilding processes. Read the full report!

Expert Knowledge on Environmental Peacebuilding: the social context of its diffusion in international politics and what it says about it. The goal here is to learn more about the social complexity and context of the production of expert knowledge on environmental peacebuilding (EPBL) and its diffusion in international politics in the period from 1990s to 2008. It was also discussed what the analysis of social context says. Read the research paper!

STATEMENTS: Read the Secretary-General of the United Nations message on International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict 2024; November 6th.