Environmental impact of Gulf wars

Environmental impact of Gulf wars
The 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War brought about a significant negative impact on the environment. Indeed, Persian Gulf countries, especially Kuwait and Iraq, faced serious environmental disasters after the wars.
Environmental impacts, due to the war along with the deployment of chemical agents, involve harmful repercussions on both the natural environment and the health of the population of the whole region.
This article presents the effects of the Gulf War and Iraq War on the environment and nature, and the impacts on the population and specifically veterans' health.
Wars timeline
The Iran–Iraq War from September 1980 to August 1988.
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait claiming that Kuwait was a part of Iraq and also that Kuwait stole oil from it. This Gulf War resulted in Operation Desert Storm in which Saddam Hussein was defeated.
In March 2003, the US, UK, and Australia invaded Iraq. This again was a much smaller war than the first one, but the security situation deteriorated later.
The effects
Environment
The environmental impact of the Gulf War of 1991 was unprecedented. Huge quantities of crude oil, going up to approximately 3.5 million tons, were released into the desert, while another 800,000 tons of oil spilt into the Persian Gulf.
Consequently, the burning oil wells created 250 oil lakes covering approximately 50 square kilometers in the desert due to the sixty million barrels of oil that came from the burning oil wells.
As a result, between six and eight million barrels of oil are estimated to be at the core of marine environment pollution.
By the February 27th ceasefire, the Saudi coast had suffered extensive damage over a distance of more than 100 miles. In this regard, oil, up to 15 inches deep in certain areas, devastated the nesting grounds of endangered sea turtles, birds, fisheries, and shrimp-spawning areas. Beaches, tide pools, and seagrass beds had been damaged, and thousands of rare herons, flamingos, and other bird species were killed.
Furthermore, the Sea Island Terminal oil spill on January 25, 1991, off the Saudi coast, was estimated to cover a stretch of approximately 10–15 miles during the Gulf War ceasefire. The second major oil slick occurred off the Kuwaiti-Saudi coast, also originating from the Mina al Bakr offshore terminal of Iraq, with a length of about 10 miles. By February 26, 1991, more than 600 oil wells were burning, thereby forming a thick smoke that engulfed the region and resulted in a significant drop in the temperatures in Kuwait.
Moreover, the environmental repercussions extended over 1000 kilometres away to southern Turkey, where black acidic rain fell in March 1991. This rain was a result of carbon particles from the burning Kuwaiti oil fires, carried by winds and affecting countries like Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
In addition, Iran experienced water supply and crop irrigation issues due to the black rain, as well.
The 1991 Gulf War entailed further environmental consequences, such as damage to sewage treatment plants in Kuwait, leading to the release of nearly 50,000 cubic meters of raw sewage into Kuwait Bay daily.
Eventually, approximately 800 oil wells in Kuwait kept on burning in Kuwait for several months, leading to the release of pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, radium, hydrogen carbons, and hydrogen sulfide.
Last but not least, the atmospheric pollution resulting from the oil fires had health implications for humans, as it led to an increase in oil-related heavy metals in the brain, including indicating nickel, vanadium, selenium, and cobalt in brain tumours, which can cause DNA damage and lipid peroxidation, as evidenced by airborne dust samples collected after the war.
Health
The use of chemicals agents
During the Gulf Wars, the populations were exposed to chemical agents. Indeed, chemicals agent, for example Depleted Uranium (DU), was used for the first time during the first Gulf War in the tank kinetic energy penetrator or autocannon rounds.
After the Gulf Wars, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and various research organizations have been assessing potential causes of health issues among veterans, including exposure to chemical and biological weapons.
Nonetheless, the use of chemical agents by both the US Army and Iraqi forces remains to date a subject of debate. In 1997, the US government published a report that states that:
"The US Intelligence Community (IC) has assessed that Iraq did not use chemical weapons during the Gulf War. However, based on a comprehensive review of intelligence information and relevant information made available by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), we conclude that chemical warfare (CW) agent was released as a result of the US postwar demolition of rockets with chemical warheads in a bunker (called Bunker 73 by Iraq) and a pit in an area known as Khamisiyah."
For example, over 100,000 Gulf War Veterans have been exposed to these nerve agents chemicals during the demolition of a munitions storage depot in Khamisiyah.
A study by the Boston School of Public Health has revealed a correlation between veterans deployed in Iraq and the reporting of post-war health symptoms. After their return from the Persian Gulf War, many veterans experienced health symptoms and medical problems. This report states that:
"Persian Gulf-deployed veterans were more likely to report neurological, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, cardiac, dermatological, musculoskeletal, psychological and neuropsychological system symptoms than German veterans."
Gulf War Syndrome
The US Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Academy of Science (NAS) released multiple reports on the Gulf war illnesses, following the conclusion of the Gulf Wars.
According to a 2007 report on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses (RAC) Veterans in Iraq were exposed to various chemical agents including DU, pesticides, nerve gas sarin, and multiple vaccinations.
The report from Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses (RAC) established the link between neurological veterans' illnesses and the exposure neurotixins.
The term "Gulf War illness" or "Gulf War syndrome" refers to the illness and neurological symptoms as "fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headaches, loss of memory and poor sleep" experienced by veterans after the 1991 Gulf War. This syndrome was associated with different causes such as exposure to depleted uranium, sarin nerve agents, organophosphate pesticides, and to a lesser extent oil well fire, Anthrax vaccine and combat stress.
Cancer
In the decade following Gulf War I, veterans and Iraqi physicians reported a sharp increase in severe health problems, including cancer, which were attributed to the use of depleted uranium bullets by the United States. Depleted uranium is known to be carcinogenic and has been associated with neurologic health problems.
As a consequence of weapons testing, military research, and the extensive use of approximately 1200 tonnes of munitions during the war, Iraq was left grappling with depleted uranium contamination, resulting in elevated levels in the soil. Therefore, by 2012, the incidence of lung and breast cancer, Leukemia, and Lymphoma cases had doubled to tripled in many areas of Iraq. The presence of contaminated soil likely affected human health through the food chain, presenting long-term radiation hazards.
Post-traumatic Stress disorder
In 1995, Kuwait witnessed a notable incidences of posttraumatic stress disorder. Approximately 27 percent of the population in Kuwait have this psychiatric disorder. 66 percent of those with diagnosable post-traumatic disorder were still dreaming nightmares about some war events. In addition, many boys were dreaming different dreams about Saddam trying to kill them or hurt their families. A documentary movie about affected families was made. A boy saw his father tortured and then killed by the Iraqi soldiers; after this, the boy lost the ability to speak. Another affected victim has speech problems because Iraqi soldiers forced her to watch her two sons killed.
Fertility Problems
Some studies point out a link between fertility problems and the Gulf wars. US veterans from the Gulf Wars faced risks of infertility. Indeed, research shows that deployed veterans during the Gulf wars faced issues concerning fertility, conceptions or live births, and pregnancy fathered problems
In times of war, the fertility of the population is also affected. Researches show that the fertility trend in Iraq was in decline, and the war emphasize this trend. Moreover, the use of chemicals weapons affected the population fertility. The case of Fallujah is an example of the impacts of the war on fertility. The city of Fallujah had been bombed during the war and chemical agents were used. Today, doctors and researchers found that there is an increase in congenital defects and infertility. Many children were born with nervous system problems.
Cleanup
The Persian Gulf countries have a proven record of cooperating towards cleaning up the Gulf ruin and preventing future havoc.
For instance, over the years volunteer Kuwaiti divers have been cleaning the benthos. They have extracted two cannons and seven shells. It was common to find a turtle caught in fishing nets. Saudi Aramco was one of the largest contributors to the cleaning process. It provided support to other Oil-response teams, distributing protection equipment and materials. Moreover, many Saudi Aramco employees were involved in volunteer teams to clean up marine life.
The Royal Commission in Jubail has established a new program to monitor oil spill or any other chemical materials. In addition, it studies the possibility of oil leakage and how it can be stopped in an emergency. Also, Aramco stores additional anti-pollution equipment and ships.
Furthermore, the Gulf Area cleaning endeavours persist nowadays and further extend to the international agenda and fall within the efforts to meet the 14th sustainable development goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Legal liability for the Environmental Damage of Gulf Wars: the UNCC Mechanism
Within a span of two months after the end of the 1990-1991 Gulf War, an unprecedented post-war mechanism called the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) was established, marking a significant development in the history of international armed conflicts. The primary objective of this mechanism was not only to assist neighbouring nations in recovering from the extensive personal and financial damages incurred during the war but also to facilitate the restoration of the environmental harm that had been inflicted.
In fact, the Gulf Wars gave the impetus to foster public debate about further law-making in the international environmental field and filling the gaps of a legal regime considered unsatisfactory by the environmental community.
In this perspective, after the conflict, it was expected that neighboring countries would receive reparations for the damages caused, and Iraq's oil revenues were seen as a viable source of funding. To address this, the UNCC was established with the objective of processing claims and providing compensation for losses and harm resulting from Iraq's illegal invasion and occupation of Kuwait. The 2.69 million claims that were processed were categorized based on the claimant and the type of compensation sought.
Other than multiple aspects such as personal injuries, fatalities, financial losses suffered by individuals, expenses incurred by neighbouring countries for hosting refugees, as well as damage to businesses and government properties, environmental damage and depletion of natural resources also fell under the "F4" sub-category.
Through various expert panels, evaluated 170 F4 claims originating from 12 countries (Australia, Canada, Germany, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the UK, and the USA) and awarded a total of US$5,261 million to 10 countries. This amount constituted only 6.2% of the total claims made and was paid out in five instalments over a span of five years.
However, even though claims from the Netherlands and Turkey were unsuccessful and did not receive compensation, stringent oversight measures were implemented to ensure that the funds were utilized as specified, with regular reporting being conducted. To this date, all payments have now been concluded, although certain projects have taken more time than others to be finalized.
References
Gulf War
Gulf wars
Environmental impact of war