International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict 2023: History, Significance, Purpose & More

The United Nations General Assembly declared November 6th as the World Day for preventing environmental exploitation during the war and armed conflict on November 5, 2001, while Kofi Annan was the UN Secretary-General.

On November 5, 2001, while Kofi Annan was serving as UN Secretary-General, the United Nations General Assembly announced 6th November as the World Day for preventing environmental exploitation during the war and armed conflict.

In May 2016, the UN Environment Assembly passed a resolution emphasizing the crucial role that healthy ecosystems and sustainable resources play in lowering the likelihood of armed conflict. On this occasion, the UN organization reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to seeing the Sustainable Development Goals fully implemented.

History

The UN General Assembly proclaimed November 5, 2001, as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. The day's goals are to increase awareness of the problem and guarantee that the ecosystem and environment are always protected.

The UNEP cites wars in conflict areas like Afghanistan, Colombia, and Iraq as examples of how natural resources have suffered greatly as a result of these conflicts. Some regions of Afghanistan have seen a 95% increase in deforestation since 1990.

Conflicts result in many dead animals, contaminated water sources, damaged forests, and burned corpses. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, at least 40% of all internal conflicts in the past 60 years have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources (UNEP).

Significance

This vision accomplishes two things. The first is to settle arguments that come up over valuable or rare natural resources, such as gold, oil, timber, or diamonds.

In addition, the UN is concentrated on addressing the environmental impact of wars and conflicts through peacebuilding, peacekeeping, and prevention. It acknowledges that if the natural resources that support human life are damaged, there cannot be long-lasting peace.

According to the UN, maintaining environmental protection is an integral part of strategies for preventing conflict, maintaining peace, and fostering peace because no lasting peace is possible if the natural resources supporting and sustaining livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.

Action

As part of conflict prevention and peacebuilding initiatives, the European Union (EU) has partnered with six United Nations agencies and departments, coordinated by the UN Framework Team for Preventive Action, to assist nations in recognizing, averting, and resolving tensions over natural resources.

A global research program was started by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Universities of Tokyo, and McGill to gather best practices and lessons learned for managing natural resources during post-conflict peacebuilding.

A partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equity and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) has been formed to work together to improve understanding of the complex relationship between women and natural resources in conflict-affected settings and to argue for the pursuit of gender equality and women's empowerment.

How to contribute to the planet?

Execute

You must determine how you can contribute to a better future. For instance, if you own a business, you must get in touch with commercial recycling services to recycle every item that has been used more than once. You won't have a chance to save the environment no matter how persuasive you are if you don't want to change the wrongs you've committed yourself.

Voice up

The existence of social media is one of the most amazing aspects of the world we live in today. You can leverage social media's influence for the noble cause of environmental preservation. Create a variety of awareness campaigns to quickly achieve excellent results.

Guidance

Make the first move by getting in touch with your neighborhood's government. Once you achieve your goals, you can increase your influence by getting in touch with your nation's authorities.

Protests

You can exercise your right to freedom by organizing nonviolent protests in your community. Keep in mind that it will take more than one day to make the necessary changes to save the world. You need to peacefully increase awareness so that everyone can unite behind one cause—protecting our ecosystem.

There can be no lasting peace if the natural resources that support livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed, so the United Nations places a high priority on making sure environmental action is a part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding strategies.

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