7 Weapons and the Environment

Abstract

This chapter examines the treaty-based rules under the law of armed conflict with regard to the impact of warfare on the environment. It starts by tracing how such rules emerged noting the Lieber Code’s prohibition of the use of poison and of wanton devastation and the 1907 Hague prohibition of destruction and seizure of the enemy’s property, unless it is imperatively demanded by the necessities of war. Interpretation of these rules as applying to the environment is considered. The substantive law applying to the environment, namely articles 35(3) and 55 of Additional Protocol 1 and the UN Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques 1976 (ENMOD) are then each addressed in discrete sections of the chapter and the important differences between these provisions are noted.