Association of Citizens Civil Rights Protection
The destructive environmental effects of the war are the lasting effects which deprive a nation from clean and beautiful environment at least for a long time. Wherever a name comes from the war, it has followed the environmental degradation as a long-term threat, so that Posterity and later generations are also a part of the war victims.
The air pollutants that today hurt the citizens of southern and eastern in Iran has rooted in the past and threaten the lives of the people of these areas. The roots of these dilemmas are the result of wars and conflicts in the Middle East, from Iraq’s eight-year imposed war against Iran to the war called the Persian Gulf, which Saddam Hussein was its cause by the attack on Kuwaiti territory, and it left the environmental destructive effects.
In addition to humans, war also threatens the environment and destruction of the environment causes the destruction of all living beings.
In the Iraq’s eight-year war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraqi government started to kill defenseless people with chemical weapons several times, and proceeded to bombard the Iranian soldiers with the same weapons meanwhile the violation of international conventions that left much direct and indirect impacts on the environment of Iran and the region countries.
The Khuzestan waters, the soil of this province and part of its wetlands that play an effective role in preventing the rise of dust in the air giant streams are contaminated due to the use of chemical weapons by Iraq. In addition, according to the Guardian report, in March 2014, it can be pointed out 300 stations Contaminated with radioactive materials that have been identified in Iraq so far.
These contaminations have been due to the use of bombs that were used in both US wars against Iraq and, since these materials are transferable, it has also infected the Khuzestan area unfortunately.
During the wars in the Persian Gulf region that also led to a war on oil tankers, it resulted in the explosion of oil-bearing vessels and caused the spread of petroleum products in the Persian Gulf, and as a result of pollution of the region.
The destruction of oil platforms also had similar effects, the burning of the oil platforms caused severe air pollution; the raining of black rains was one of the other effects of the war in the area, which caused the pollution of water and soil. Many of the Persian Gulf aquatics were lost and the ecosystem of this region was subjected to the undesirable changes resulting from the war.
Most of the pollution in the Persian Gulf has been caused by the effects of numerous wars in this blue structure which has left destructive effects on the environment.
During the Iraqi-Kuwait War, which led to the reaction of the Americans to the invasion of Iraq, given that Iran was not involved it, but Iranians especially Khouzestani people suffered the destructive pressures of the environmental impacts of the war, including the bombing of Kuwaiti oil wells.
But in recent years, we have been faced with radical militants called ISIS, which have seriously threatened the fragile environment of the Middle East more than ever. In the meantime, it can be seen one of the indicator examples about the role of the war on climate change and the increase in the temperature of war zones in Iraq; the war and its destructive effects are closely linked to the peace and security discussions, and climate change. War can have negative consequences in climate change and carbon emissions. The impact of the war on climate change and the impact of war machines have direct effects on the air warming and the erosion of the environment. Given the country’s involvement over a decade of the past war, the Tigris and Euphrates water have fallen sharply, and the fertile lands between these two rivers, is one of the earliest agricultural centers of human beings, have become desert. So that from 28 per cent of the country’s fertile land, its 250 square kilometers annually turns to desert.
But Iraq is now facing a more serious threat than the past wars. The ISISs that had made Iraq a base for their regional wars were a pressure on the country’s environment. From closing the Euphrates River to reach the center of the country to pollute the country’s water and soil.
Although most of the ISIS damage comes to the Iraqi state, but undoubtedly, these actions will not affect in the Middle East’s environment, especially Iran. The abandoned agricultural lands occupied by the ISIS include 340,000 hectares in parts of Syrian Arab Republic on the border of the Euphrates River and about 250,000 hectares in parts of Iraqi territory and on the banks of the Tigris River, are among the factors that promote the dust in the area.
This effect can be seen in the form of an increase in the inflow dust into Iran. It is necessary and we, the inhabitants of the planet should believe that the environment does not know the border and the war destroys our environment.
Unrests and military conflicts in the world, in addition to human damages, also cause long-term damages to the environment, and wars hurt the wealth and general economics of the countries. So efforts should be made with the international cooperation in commemoration of the World War Day to confront the war on the environment are being addressed to the different forms of war until in this way, the world will achieve the necessity of an international convergence to deal with the destructive effects of warfare. It is also necessary for the United Nations to work towards the drafting of international law to create a global commitment to preserving water and soil resources and Plant and animal species.
