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International Conflict and Security Law pp 1139–1160Cite as

Military Ecocide

Abstract

Military ecocide, the destruction of the natural environment in the course of fighting or preparing for war, has a long history and remains a prominent feature of contemporary conflicts. Efforts to prohibit this in International Law were initiated after the US’ notorious defoliation campaign in the Vietnam War in the 1960s and have developed since then. Whilst legal ambiguities and the defence of military necessity have limited the application of this body of law the proscription of ecocide has, nevertheless, progressed and looks set to develop further. Normative change driven by scientists, environmentalists and legal experts has raised awareness of and stigmatized such practises to the extent that recourse to the worst excesses of ecocide now appears to have lessened and some recompense for past crimes has been made. Military activities, though, continue to inflict a heavy cost on the environment and the drive for a more explicit legal prohibition of this has grown.

Keywords

  • ecocide
  • Scorched Earth
  • Agent Orange
  • environment

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Carson 1962.

  2. 2.

    2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid.

  3. 3.

    2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid.

  4. 4.

    Connor and Thomas 1984.

  5. 5.

    NAS 1974, 5–6.

  6. 6.

    Ibid., vii–9.

  7. 7.

    Franklin 2003.

  8. 8.

    Westing 1984, 166.

  9. 9.

    Westing 1989, 337.

  10. 10.

    Westing 1974, 26.

  11. 11.

    Cook et al. 1970.

  12. 12.

    Hay 1982, 151.

  13. 13.

    Ibid., 165.

  14. 14.

    Peluso and Vandergeest 2011.

  15. 15.

    Weinstein 2005, 715.

  16. 16.

    CoE 2011.

  17. 17.

    Sanders 2009, 71–2.

  18. 18.

    UNEP 2002.

  19. 19.

    CoE 2011; Sheehan 2003.

  20. 20.

    Kalpers 2001.

  21. 21.

    Glasby and Voytekhovsky 2010, 20.

  22. 22.

    Auer 2004, 119–121.

  23. 23.

    Schettler 1995.

  24. 24.

    Peluso and Vandegeest 2011.

  25. 25.

    Sanders 2009, 50, 61, 68.

  26. 26.

    Boas and Schabas 2003, 293.

  27. 27.

    Brady and Re 2018, 116.

  28. 28.

    Roberts and Guelff 2000, 407–418.

  29. 29.

    S/RES/687 (1991) 8 April.

  30. 30.

    Payne 2016, 725–6.

  31. 31.

    A/RES/47/37.

  32. 32.

    A/RES/49/50.

  33. 33.

    Peterson 2009; Jha 2014, 213–4.

  34. 34.

    Plakokefalos 2017, 263.

  35. 35.

    Higgins 2010.

  36. 36.

    ILC 2016.

  37. 37.

    UNEP 2007.

  38. 38.

    CoE 2011.

  39. 39.

    BBC 2004.

  40. 40.

    USDC 2005, 233.

  41. 41.

    Frieman 2004.

  42. 42.

    TOTALSA v France 2008; Belize v Westerhaven 2009.

  43. 43.

    Bolivia 2011.

  44. 44.

    Ecuador 2008.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics, Middlesex University, London, UK

    Peter Hough

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  1. Peter Hough
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Correspondence to Peter Hough .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Dr. Sergey Sayapin

  2. School of Law, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Rustam Atadjanov

  3. National Law School of India, Pune, India

    Prof. Umesh Kadam

  4. Law and Social Sciences, University of Derby, Derby, UK

    Prof. Gerhard Kemp

  5. School of Law, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    Dr. Nicolás Zambrana-Tévar

  6. Bristol Law School, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

    Prof. Noëlle Quénivet

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Hough, P. (2022). Military Ecocide. In: Sayapin, S., Atadjanov, R., Kadam, U., Kemp, G., Zambrana-Tévar, N., Quénivet, N. (eds) International Conflict and Security Law. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-515-7_51

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-515-7_51

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