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Friday, August 04, 2006
Peña: The environment as a war casualty
By Rox Peña
E-ssue
IN WAR, we measure casualties in terms of losses to human lives and destruction of properties. Seldom do we highlight environmental devastation, as prime target or collateral damage of armed conflicts. Print and broadcast media reports often concentrate on deaths and injuries, and little attention is given to other victims, like the environment.
When the guns have been silenced, buildings rebuilt, dead buried and wounds healed, the ill-effects of war on the ecosystem lingers. On close scrutiny, the danger to human health and the surroundings of ecological damage maybe more potent than bombs and bullets. Peace can be restored, political systems can be changed, but the harm inflicted to the environment is sometimes irreversible.
The effects of Agent Orange, the name given to a powerful herbicide and defoliant used by the Americans in the Vietnam War to destroy forest cover, lasted even after the war. The chemical sank into the soil, washed into the sea and entered into the food chain where it would remain for many years. Agent Orange contained dioxins. The prolonged exposure to these substances is suspected to be the causes of certain types of cancer.
The burning oil wells in Kuwait, the aftermath of the Gulf War, brought severe ecological devastation to the country. Oil residues coated greeneries, which affected water permeability, seed germination and microbial life. Plants can’t breath through blackened leaves and dark skies. Crude oil released into the sea killed tens of thousands of marine birds and mammals. Toxic fumes and smoke killed migratory birds.
Capping the burning oil wells took ten months. As much as six million barrels of oil a day was wasted. Scientists predict the toxic residue will continue to affect fisheries in the gulf for over 100 years. The deposition of oil, soot, sulfur and acid rain on croplands up to 1,200 miles in all directions from the oil fires rendered fields unusable, which led to food shortages. The fires released nearly half a billion tons of carbon dioxide, the leading cause of global warming, that will remain in the atmosphere for more than a century.
On a more recent incident, the Environmental News Network reported in its website the ecological crisis brought by the ongoing clashes in Lebanon between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah. Lebanon’s sandy beaches and rocky headlands were contaminated with oil that spilled into the Mediterranean Sea after Israel bombed a power plant.
According to the website of Lebanon’s Environment Ministry, 10,000 tons of heavy fuel oil was spilled when Israeli bombs hit the Jieh Power Utility located 30 km South of Beirut on July 13 and 15.The Lebanese Government asked for the assistance of Kuwait and Jordan to contain the spill. A complete cleanup operation will cost tens of millions of euros and will span a long period of time. The United Nations says that clean up cannot start until the fighting stops.
The degree of damage to the environment cannot be determined yet, but the Lebanese Ministry of Environment said the marine ecosystem is active in summer and has been adversely affected. The agency also said that the chronic impact of the oil spill is disastrous on their tourism industry due to the length of time it is going to take for the clean up of the sands, the rocks, the shallow reef and the marine ecosystem as a whole. Luckily, the bird migratory season is over hence the number of affected birds is low.
We have seen the horrors of conventional warfare. The presence of various materials for chemical, biological and germ warfare, as well as nuclear weapons and other modern armaments, means that the future wars will be more deadly.
But then again, there may no longer be human beings left to suffer the lasting environmental damages of another world war. Let’s pray for peace.
(August 4, 2006 issue)
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