Abstract
The impacts of armed conflict on the environment are extremely complex and difficult to investigate, given the impossibility of accessing the affected area and reliable data limitation. Very-high-resolution satellite imageries and highly reliable machine learning algorithms become very useful in studying direct and indirect impacts of war on the ecosystem, in addition to connected effects on human lives. The Rohingya conflict is described as one of the worst humanitarian crises and human-made disasters of the 21st Century. Quantification of damage due to the conflict and the suitability of human resettlement has been lacking despite the ongoing agreements to repatriate refugees and the importance of ecosystem services for the communities' survival. In this work, the investigation of environmental conditions pre-, during, and post-conflict in the conflict zone was carried out using satellite data. The Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud-based computing platform with a widely applied algorithm, the Random Forest (RF) classifier was implemented and experienced. Striking near-complete demolition of inhabited regions, dramatic and highly significant increase in burning areas, and substantial deforestation were found. The study discusses the reasons behind such findings from the Rakhine case and debates some general conservation lessons applicable to other countries undergoing post-conflict transitions.
Highlights
IntroductionFrom the disruption of the Earth's climate system, ocean filling up with plastic, pollution, and forest degradation to damaging the entire ecosystem, human actions have changed the make-up of Earth's surface
All over the world, the environment is being affected by anthropogenic activities
This can be partly due to the small-scale burning of villages during the first wave of violence, which started in June 2012, and in some part, due to slash-and-burn during the winter seasons
Summary
From the disruption of the Earth's climate system, ocean filling up with plastic, pollution, and forest degradation to damaging the entire ecosystem, human actions have changed the make-up of Earth's surface While these changes are easier to detect in a politically stable context, it is notoriously challenging to assess how the environment is affected in areas faced by armed conflict, either directly by the conflict or indirectly through the socio-economic and political conditions that conflicts create. The impacts of violent conflict on human are generally well-understood and extensively documented (Cheung et al 2020; Clodfelter 2002; Gorsevski et al 2012; Joksimovich 2000; Sidel and Levy 2008; Spyrou et al 2019) These effects can have adverse, long-term, and far-reaching impacts on civilians and the surrounding ecosystem (Skakun et al 2019). These impacts can be in the form of degradation of natural resources, forest degradation, habitat destruction, increase in water pollution, and loss of biodiversity (Baral, Heinen, and Barai 2019; Daskin and Pringle 2018; Eniang, Haile, and Yihdego 2007; Hanson 2018) Another set hypothesis, posits that conflicts can have unintentional positive effects on the environment resulting from a decrease in human pressure on the environment and wildlife (Burgess, Miguel, and Stanton 2015; Draulans 2002; Gorsevski et al 2012; Rustad et al 2008)
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