The Regulation of Hazardous Substances and Activities During Warfare

Abstract

Although hazardous activities and substances create significant environmental risks and damage during warfare, international humanitarian law contains very few provisions that specifically address this question. To reinforce the protection of the environment, these provisions should be interpreted in light of — and complemented by — international environmental instruments adopted during the last decades. Indeed, these instruments envisage important rules, mechanisms, and institutions which aim at preventing and redressing environmental threats and damage resulting from the production and use of hazardous substances and the dumping of wastes during peacetime. This article seeks precisely to examine how these rules, mechanisms and institutions could apply in the context of war-related incidents, not only during an armed conflict, but also before and after its occurrence. The article will show that sophisticated safety measures that help in preventing such incidents, which often create irreversible consequences, must be designed, tested, and implemented well before hostilities are taking place. Furthermore, environmental remediation of contaminated areas should also be considered after the end of the conflict.