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Deliberate destruction of the environment during a war should be declared
a war crime an international panel of lawyers and environmentalists agreed
in London this week. The environment commissioner of the European Community,
Carlo Ripa di Meana, promised support for a proposed Geneva Convention to
protect nature during times of war.

After the Gulf War, which Jeremy Leggett of Greenpeace described as
the ‘climax of a trend’ in increased environmental destruction during war,
speakers hoped that there was now an ‘historic opportunity’ to outlaw damage
to the natural environment that was not directly related to war aims.

Richard Falk, professor of international law at Harvard University,
named three environmental outrages from the Gulf War: Iraq’s release of
oil slicks into the Gulf, its detonation of more than 500 Kuwaiti oil wells,
and ‘the coalition’s worst practice of bombing nuclear and chemical and
biological warfare facilities’.

The convention, which was proposed by Greenpeace, would not primarily
be about enforcement and punishment, explained Falk. ‘It would be more a
guidance framework to be introduced into the thinking of governments.’ The
problem, he admitted, would be ‘to fix levels regarded as unacceptable without
trying to prohibit warfare in general.’ But Falk identified Iraqi actions
against oil facilities as obvious targets because they were ‘punitive, vindictive
and not militarily necessary’.

Ripa di Meana called for the creation of an independent body, a ‘Green
Cross’ to mirror the Red Cross’s humanitarian work in times of war. ‘I pledge
that the European Community will do all in its power to ensure adoption
of a fifth Geneva Convention,’ he said, and called for the proposal to be
taken to the next General Assembly of the UN in October.

‘There is an emerging body of international law on the environment,’
said Leggett, ‘why put it on the shelf when a government goes to war?’ He
criticised the US government for being irresponsible in its failure to release
details of the environmental impact of its bombing of Iraq.

Greenpeace, which organised the conference, called for ‘indirect or
unintended damage to the environment, such as river pollution’ to be included
in any convention, and for nature parks to be declared demilitarised zones.