Protection of the natural environment in armed conflict

== Definition ==
Protection of the natural environment in armed conflict
The natural environment is protected during armed conflict under IHL by both specific and general rules. To begin with, specific IHL rules provide that it is prohibited to use methods or means of warfare which are intended or may be expected to cause widespread, long-term, and severe damage to the natural environment.AP I, Arts. 35(3) and 55; ICRC CIHL Study, Rule 45. There have been some objections as to the customary nature of this rule, and its applicability to NIACs is less clear than to IACs. It is worth noting that the customary nature of this rule has been contested, as well as its application to both international and non-international armed conflicts.See ICRC CIHL Study, Rule 45, Summary; Tallinn Manual 2.0, Rule 143, Commentary, para. 2. Moreover, it is prohibited to use the destruction of the natural environment as a weapon of warfare.ICRC CIHL Study, Rule 45. Further, due regard must be given to the protection and preservation of the natural environment in warfare.ICRC CIHL Study, Rule 46.
In addition, under the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD), the military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting, or severe effects as the means of destruction, damage or injury to any other State Party is prohibited. The three criteria of “widespread, long-lasting or severe” under this Convention are alternative rather than cumulative and their threshold has been interpreted to be rather lower than the one established in Additional Protocol I.See Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (December 1976), Understandings; Yves Sandoz, Christophe Swinarski and Bruno Zimmerman, Commentary to Additional Protocols (ICRC 1987) 416, para. 1452-53, footnote 114, and p. 664, para. 2136. For example, for the purpose for Additional Protocol I, ‘long-lasting’ refers to a period of decades, while the ENMOD Convention establishes that the threshold is of a period of months, or approximately a season. It is worth noting that contemporary knowledge of the effects of harming the natural environment must be considered to address the degree of damage.ICRC, Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict: Rules and Recommendations Relating to the Protection of the Natural Environment under International Humanitarian Law, with Commentary, ICRC, Geneva (2020) para. 54.
Moreover, the natural environment is protected under the general principles of IHL governing civilian objects,ICRC CIHL Study, Rule 43; ILC, Principles on protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts (2022), Principle 13(3); Marco Sassòli and others, How Does Law Protect in War? (2014), Environment entry; Tallinn Manual 2.0, Rule 143. For an alternative view, see Israel’s comment in International Law Commission, Protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts: Comments and observations received from Governments, international organizations and others, UN Doc. A/CN.4/749 (17 January 2022). unless parts of it become a military objective. Therefore, all the principles governing the conduct of hostilities, such as distinction, proportionality, and precautions fully apply to the natural environment.See ICRC, Guidelines on the Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict: Rules and Recommendations Relating to the Protection of the Natural Environment under International Humanitarian Law, with Commentary, ICRC, Geneva (2020) Rules 5-9; ILC, Principles on protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts (2022), Principle 14; See also Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996, 226, para. 30.
The protection of the natural environment under IHL also applies to cyber operations and their effects.Tallinn Manual 2.0, Rule 143, Commentary, para. 2.
Publicly available national positions that address this issue include:
 (2019), and (2021).''
==National positions==
===France (2019)===
===Switzerland (2021)===
== Appendixes ==
=== See also ===
* International armed conflict
* International humanitarian law (jus in bello)
* Scenario 29: Cyber operations against water and water infrastructure
=== Notes and references ===
=== Bibliography and further reading ===
Category:International armed conflict
Category:International humanitarian law
Category:Legal concepts