Wars are decimating forests, farms and water systems, with environmental scars that threaten peace and food security, says UN

The United Nations has cautioned that the environmental cost of modern warfare is rising sharply, with conflicts transforming fertile lands into degraded wastelands. At a UN Security Council session on Thursday, world leaders and experts called for urgent global efforts to safeguard ecosystems amid intensifying violence and climate stress.

Forests, Farmlands And Water Under Siege
Francess Piagie Alghali, Deputy Foreign Minister of Sierra Leone, said her country’s decade-long civil war left a lasting environmental toll. “When the guns fell silent in 2002, our primary forests and savannahs also fell silent,” she said. Biodiversity loss, wildlife migration, and the abandonment of farms followed years of conflict-driven destruction.

The debate was held on the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. With more wars raging today than at any time since 1945, nearly two billion people now live amid conflict’s environmental and humanitarian fallout.

Lasting Damage To Ecosystems
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), warned that conflict-linked destruction “pushes people into hunger, disease and displacement, thereby increasing insecurity”. Contaminated water, deforestation, and ruined soil fertility, she said, threaten long-term food and health stability.

She highlighted Gaza, where two years of war have wiped out nearly all tree crops and shrubland. “Freshwater and marine ecosystems are polluted by munitions and untreated sewage,” she said, adding that over 61 million tonnes of debris now await careful removal. In Ukraine, the collapse of the Kakhova Dam in 2023 flooded more than 600 square kilometres of land, destroying habitats and species.

Strengthening International Law
Charles C. Jalloh, of the International Law Commission (ILC), said the global legal framework to protect the environment during armed conflict remains weak. The ILC’s 27 draft principles, adopted in 2022, aim to close that gap by extending protection before, during and after hostilities, including in territories under occupation.

The Climate–conflict Connection
From Haiti, World Relief’s Maranatha Dinat described how environmental degradation, climate change and political instability “reinforce one another”, creating a cycle that undermines peace and development. She urged stronger links between humanitarian response, climate adaptation and peacebuilding.

Rebuilding Environmental Governance
Andersen said post-conflict recovery must prioritise environmental management. “When countries rebuild their capacity to manage natural resources sustainably, they create conditions for peace and prosperity,” she said.
She also called for greater investments in climate adaptation. UNEP’s latest Emissions Gap Report, released this week, warned that the world remains far from limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C. “Every fraction of a degree avoided means fewer losses for people and ecosystems,” Andersen said. “As we head to Belém for COP30, ambition on adaptation and mitigation must rise together.”