The ecology of war and peace : marginalising slow and structural violence in international law

The connection between ecology and conflict has been the object of extensive study by political scientists and economists. From the contribution of natural resource 'scarcity' to violent unrest and armed conflict; to resource 'abundance' as an incentive for initiating and prolonging armed struggles; to dysfunctional resource management and environmental degradation as obstacles to peacebuilding, this literature has exerted a huge influence upon academic discussions and policy developments. While international law is often invoked as the solution to the socio-environmental challenges faced by conflict-affected countries, its relationship with the ecology of war and peace remains undertheorised. Drawing upon environmental justice perspectives and other theoretical traditions, the book unpacks and problematizes some of the assumptions that underlie the legal field. Through an analysis of the practice of international courts, the UN Security Council, and Truth Commissions, it shows how international law silences and even normalizes forms of structural and slow environmental violence. Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgements 11 1 Introduction: International Law, Violence, and Visibility 13 1.1 International Law, Violence, and Visibility: War’s Hidden Socio-ecological Legacy 13 1.2 Pushing the Conversation Forward 20 1.3 ‘New Wars’ and the Environment 25 1.4 Slow and Structural Violence 31 1.5 Overview of Arguments 37 Part I Concepts, Theories, and Debates 41 2 The Ecology of War and Peace: Unpacking the Assumptions 43 2.1 Introduction 43 2.2 The Place of the Environment within Peace and Conflict Studies 44 2.2.1 Of Scarcity, Greed, and Grievances: Nature and the Root Causes of Violent Conflict 48 2.2.2 ‘Illicit’ Trade in Natural Resources and the Political Economy of Civil Wars 56 2.2.3 Environmental Peacebuilding and the Spectre of ‘Liberal Peace’ 60 2.3 Adding Environmental Justice to the Picture 64 2.4 Conclusion 70 3 Origins and Evolutions of Legal Debates on the Environment-Conflict ‘Nexus’ 72 3.1 Introduction 72 3.2 From Grotius to the Contemporary Jus in Bello: Necessity, Distinction, and Proportionality as the Standards for Environmental Protection 76 3.3 Reacting to Ecocide Perpetrated in the Vietnam War: Adding the ‘Environment’ to the Laws of Armed Conflict 83 3.4 The 1990–1 Gulf War and the Codification of Environmental War Crime in the Statute of the International Criminal Court 88 3.5 Interpretative Routes to Restrain ‘Illegal’ Resource Exploitation during Armed Conflict and Occupation 93 3.6 Beyond the Laws of Armed Conflict 100 3.6.1 Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Principles of Environmental Law: ‘Greening’ the Jus in Bello? 100 3.6.2 International Human Rights Law and the Environment: A Complicated Relationship 105 3.7 Conclusion 113 Part II The Practice of International Law 115 4 War Crimes Tribunals and the International Court of Justice: Nature between Property Protection and Humanitarian Concerns 117 4.1 Introduction 117 4.2 International and Hybrid Criminal Tribunals 119 4.2.1 Post–World War II Tribunals and the Prosecution of Property Crimes 119 4.2.2 The NATO Bombing Campaign in Former Yugoslavia: The Environment as a ‘Casualty’ of Warfare 123 4.2.3 The Environment as the Means to Commit Humanitarian Atrocities 128 4.2.4 The Special Court for Sierra Leone, Natural Resources, and the Economic Motives for Armed Struggle 131 4.3 Two Different Paradigms of Justice: The Tension between International Criminal Justice and Environmental Justice 134 4.4 The International Court of Justice 142 4.4.1 The Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion: Slow Violence and Non Liquet 142 4.4.2 The Armed Activities Case (Congo v. Uganda) 149 4.5 Conclusion 163 5 The United Nations Security Council: From ‘Conflict Resources’ to Climate Change as a ‘Threat’ to International Peace and Security 165 5.1 Introduction 165 5.2 Sanctions and Resource-Driven Armed Conflict 168 5.2.1 A Few Words on Sanctions 168 5.2.2 The Evolving Objectives of Sanctions Targeting ‘Conflict Resources’: From Conflict Termination to Governance Interventions 171 5.3 The UNSC and the Global Regulation of Resource Extraction in Conflict Zones 175 5.4 Implementing Sanctions: Peacekeeping Operations and Panels of Experts 181 5.4.1 Securitising Resource Extraction 181 5.4.2 ‘Naming and Shaming’ and Corporate Due Diligence 185 5.5 A Narrow and Short-Term Approach to Peace 190 5.5.1 Ignoring Conflict Root Causes 190 5.5.2 Overlooking Sustainability Challenges 194 5.6 Climate Change and International Peace and Security 198 5.6.1 Different Accounts of ‘Climate Security’ 198 5.6.2 Rethinking the Powers of the UNSC and Orthodox Approaches to Peace and Security 202 5.7 Conclusion 207 6 Truth Commissions: Conflicts over Extractive Resources and the Battle for Different Views of Nature 209 6.1 Introduction 209 6.2 A Brief Overview of Truth Commissions 213 6.3 Constructing the ‘Truth’ about Resource-Driven Wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Timor-Leste 215 6.3.1 Setting the Stage: Natural Resources and Conflict Causes and Dynamics 215 6.3.2 Human Rights Abuses and ‘Illegal’ Resource Extraction 222 6.4 Three Paradigms of Responsibility 229 6.4.1 The Sierra Leonean TC: The Post-conflict State as the ‘Main Agent of Change’ 229 6.4.2 The Liberian TC: The ‘Economic Crimes’ Lens 234 6.4.3 The Timor-Leste TC: A Progressive Reading of Socio-economic and Nature Rights 238 6.5 Conclusion 241 7 Conclusion: Towards a Political Ecology of International Law 243 7.1 Reframing ‘the Environment’ and its Relation to Humanity in Rules Governing War 247 7.2 Embracing Complexity: Rethinking the ‘Nexus’ between Nature, Conflict, and Peace 250 7.3 Towards a Political Ecology of International Law 252 Bibliography 255 Index 290 "1 Introduction: International Law, Violence and Visibility 'If a war leaves in its wake terrifying polluted lands and mangled genetic codes, any victory will be pyrrhic, as death by indirection becomes the ultimate form of friendly fire. No homeland can be secure if we convert the earth into a biological weapon that threatens biology itself'.1 1.1 International law, violence, and visibility: war's hidden socio-ecological legacy At the turn of the 20th century, scientists in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US started studying how chemical herbicides could be used to increase agricultural productivity.2 This early research led to the isolation of the hormone that controls plant growth and its synthetic reproduction. Scientists found that, while in small doses the artificial hormone greatly stimulated plant growth, in large doses it inhibited the plants development.3 During World War II the full military and agricultural applications of these herbicides (and other pesticides, such as the insecticide DDT) were studied in academic institutions in the US and the United Kingdom,4 as well as, infamously, in Nazi concentration camps by the German chemical corporation IG Farben"-- Provided by publisher The book unpacks key assumptions about the 'environment', its relationship with conflict and peace, and the justification for its protection underlying international law. It will be of interest to academics, policy-makers, and students in international law, peace and conflict studies, political sciences, and international relations. Unpacks key assumptions about the 'environment', its relationship with violent conflict, and the justification for its protection underlying international law.