Toward Mitigating the Effects of War on the Environment

War consistently devastates natural and human resources, causing death, destruction, and severe environmental damage. The environmental impact has intensified with the development of advanced weapons, technologies, and methods of armed conflict. These effects are often direct and immediate, but can also be delayed or long-lasting, sometimes deliberately targeting ecological systems as a war objective. The danger escalates when technologies enable artificial modification of ecosystems, such as creating artificial clouds or torrential rains. This text is based on a conference presentation given in Casablanca in 1986, during the International Year of Peace, emphasizing the urgent need to address war’s ecological consequences.