10 Ways War Harms Wildlife
A Wildlife Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM John R. Platt, The Revelator.org
March 2022

As war and conflicts rage on in Ukraine, Yemen, South Sudan, Libya and other places around the globe, it’s important to look at the long-term effects of military strife, which can destroy the environment as easily as it destroys lives.

Chateau Wood
Soldiers of an Australian 4th Division field artillery brigade pass through a devastated Chateau Wood, 29 October 1917. Photo: Frank Hurley (public domain)

As war and conflicts rage on in Ukraine, Yemen, South Sudan, Libya and other places around the globe, it’s important to look at the long-term effects of military strife, which can destroy the environment as easily as it destroys lives.

Here are 10 of the most dangerous ways war affects the animals and plants around us — many of which also harm humans in the process:

  1. Bullets and bombs
  2. Toxics and pollution
  3. Noise pollution
  4. Habitat destruction and degradation
  5. Poaching, subsistence hunting, firewood collection and other ways of “living off the land” by hungry soldiers, locals and refugees
  6. Domino effect
  7. Killing of civilian conservation workers and destruction of conservation facilities and infrastructure
  8. Epidemics affecting people, livestock and wildlife
  9. Resource extraction
  10. Disruption of government services, financial and human capital, and political instability

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE (PDF).


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