L-R:Director-General, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Dr Ngeri Banabo, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Mr Taye Haruna and the suppervising Minister, Mr Darius Ishaku, at the inauguration of the Governing Boards of Agencies and Parastatals under the Ministry of Environment in Abuja, last Monday.
Photo: NAN

On November 5,
2001 the UN General Assembly declared Nov. 6 as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in Wars and Armed Conflicts.
The declaration was to draw global attention to the negative impacts of war and armed conflicts on the environment.
Through the ages, wars have had their casualties, but the environment has always remained the unpublicised ‘victim’ of such conflicts.
Water wells and soils have been polluted, crops crushed, forests cut down, animals and micro-organisms uprooted from their natural habitat, just to gain military advantage.
Report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) showed that over the past 60 years, no less than 40 per cent of all internal conflicts were linked to the exploitation of natural resources.
Against this background, the UN attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment was part of conflict prevention, peace keeping and peace building strategies.
This is because there will be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon once called on all nations to prevent the exploitation of the environment in times of conflict.
“The natural environment enjoys protection under Protocol 1 of the Geneva Convention; but this protection is often violated during wars and armed conflicts.
“Water wells are polluted, crops destroyed, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed, all in order to gain military advantage.
“We must recognise peace and security as a critical ‘fourth dimension’ of sustainable development and also acknowledge that durable peace and post-conflict development depend on environmental protection and good governance of natural resources,’’ he said.
Citing the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr Manasseh Ukpabi, a historian, said the crisis had displaced over 250,000 Congolese in the far eastern part of the country.
The UN Secretary-General noted during a recent peace mission to Congo that among other factors, the conflicts in Congo, Sudan and other parts of the world were rooted in the struggle for control of natural resources.
“The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of our approach to peace.
“Protecting the environment can help countries create employment opportunities, promote development and avoid a relapse into armed conflict,’’ he stressed.
The Secretary-General added that the UN was studying the environmental impacts of conflicts around the world, from the Balkans to Afghanistan, from Lebanon to Sudan.
He, however, said there could be no durable peace anywhere in the world if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems were destroyed.
“We have seen how environmental damage and the collapse of institutions are threatening human health, livelihoods and security.
“These risks can also jeopardise fragile peace and development in post-conflict societies.
“Let us renew our commitment to preventing the exploitation of the environment in times of conflict and to protecting the environment as a pillar of our work for peace,’’ he said.
Mrs Olufunmilayo Oyeyipo, Deputy Director, Environmental Health Services, Federal Ministry of   Environment, noted that children suffered during the 1967-1970 Nigerian civil war, coupled with economic regression.
“The Nigeria economy still has the scares of the 1967 to 1970 civil war. At the end of the war, the South-East of Nigeria suffered a great blow in every area of life.
“Lands and properties were destroyed, starvation and all kinds of diseases came upon the land and the people’s condition was critical.
“Things were so bad that the people fed on anything to survive. It was a great blow to Nigeria even economically,’’ she said.
Oyeyipo, however, said that the Nigeria economy had picked up, adding that the country is blessed with resources, including oil, cocoa, timber, palm kernel, and many raw materials.
She observed that foreign investors now see Nigeria as a destination for investment and are willing to contribute to the growth of the economy.
“A war in this era of growth in the Nigerian economy will be a disaster because the economy is not strong enough to withstand it.
Oyeyipo noted that no matter the kind of war, whether civil or national war, the Nigerian economy would cripple if made to face such crisis, adding that it would take more years to rebuild.
“Whatever the justification, war brings unspeakable terribleness to combatants and civilians alike.
“Wars and conflicts can destroy in minutes what took generations to achieve; beyond the human suffering it causes, war is also devastating to the environment,’’ she said.
The hardship inflicted on the people and damage done to the environment due to wars and conflicts are obvious.
It is, therefore, a situation that must be avoided to ensure human and environmental growth and sustenance for viable national economic development.
Oluleye writes for NAN

Abiodun Oluleye